Kathianne
10-26-2009, 04:58 PM
On this, he should. Or the French, Romainians, Lithuanians, etc. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_by_country) for that matter:
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/006651.html
October 24, 2009
China Makes Big Renewables, Nuclear Energy Push
While China does not want to pay a heavy price to cut CO2 emissions the Chinese may have 18 nuclear power plants under construction by the end of 2010. That's impressive. To put it in perspective the United States has 104 nukes total and probably of average smaller size.
Nonetheless, the government has set ambitious targets for renewable energy, which is supposed to account for 15 percent of the country's fuel mix by 2020, and for tree planting, to boost forest cover to 20 percent of China's land mass by the end of next year. China plans to quadruple its nuclear power; by the end of next year, it may have 18 nuclear energy plants under construction, half of the world's total under construction.
I am skeptical of claims that CO2 emissions reduction would cost so much that it would cripple the economy. Cost estimates for new nuclear plants cover a pretty wide range. Even if we were to assume a very high figure of $10 billion per nuke the United States could double its nuclear power plant capacity for about $1 trillion dollars or 1/14th of a single year's GDP. That amount of nuclear power plant capacity could displace about 40% of total coal used to generate electricity (nukes currently generate 20% of US electricity and coal generates about 50%). Or spend $2.5 trillion and totally phase out coal for electric power. The real cost would likely be much lower due to efficiencies of construction from building hundreds of nukes.
Coal is responsible for 36% of US carbon dioxide emissions. Coal used for electric power generation is responsible for 32% of US CO2 emissions. So for $2.5 trillion the US could cut about a third of total US CO2 emissions. Though the initial nuke build would release a lot of CO2. That would be paid back and eventually our CO2 emissions would go down by a third.
By Randall Parker at 2009 October 24 06:37 PMLinks at site.
http://www.futurepundit.com/archives/006651.html
October 24, 2009
China Makes Big Renewables, Nuclear Energy Push
While China does not want to pay a heavy price to cut CO2 emissions the Chinese may have 18 nuclear power plants under construction by the end of 2010. That's impressive. To put it in perspective the United States has 104 nukes total and probably of average smaller size.
Nonetheless, the government has set ambitious targets for renewable energy, which is supposed to account for 15 percent of the country's fuel mix by 2020, and for tree planting, to boost forest cover to 20 percent of China's land mass by the end of next year. China plans to quadruple its nuclear power; by the end of next year, it may have 18 nuclear energy plants under construction, half of the world's total under construction.
I am skeptical of claims that CO2 emissions reduction would cost so much that it would cripple the economy. Cost estimates for new nuclear plants cover a pretty wide range. Even if we were to assume a very high figure of $10 billion per nuke the United States could double its nuclear power plant capacity for about $1 trillion dollars or 1/14th of a single year's GDP. That amount of nuclear power plant capacity could displace about 40% of total coal used to generate electricity (nukes currently generate 20% of US electricity and coal generates about 50%). Or spend $2.5 trillion and totally phase out coal for electric power. The real cost would likely be much lower due to efficiencies of construction from building hundreds of nukes.
Coal is responsible for 36% of US carbon dioxide emissions. Coal used for electric power generation is responsible for 32% of US CO2 emissions. So for $2.5 trillion the US could cut about a third of total US CO2 emissions. Though the initial nuke build would release a lot of CO2. That would be paid back and eventually our CO2 emissions would go down by a third.
By Randall Parker at 2009 October 24 06:37 PMLinks at site.