Planet Earth International 2009

Earth sciences and energy
»Many governments see the replacement of fossil fuel-burning power
stations with nuclear reactors as a more reliable solution than focusing
on renewable energy. Nearly all developed nations have plans to build
or encourage the building of new nuclear reactors to replace the ﬁ rst
generation of nuclear plants that are coming to the end of their lives.
four-ﬁ fths of the world’s energy and that is
The potential of nuclear
power is still outweighed by
still likely to be the case decades from now.
the low cost of gas and coal.
It is not thought likely that the US, which
imports around 10 million barrels of oil and
petroleum products every day, will become
energy independent in the foreseeable
future.
For transport purposes, no alternative has
yet been found to match the convenience
and cost of petrol or diesel. Hopes invested
in biofuels have drained away as food
prices have soared. For power generation,
similarly, none of the nuclear or renewable
alternatives can yet match the combination
of low investment cost and project risk with
high reliability that is provided by coal- and
gas-ﬁ red plants. The International Energy
Agency estimated a year ago that under
existing policies, fossil fuels’ contribution to
the world’s energy mix would rise from 81%
in 2005 to 82% by 2030.
What is the alternative?
So if the future for fossil fuels is ﬁ nite but
Brazil has the second-
by no means short-lived, how and when will
largest crude oil reserves in
renewables be developed to the point where
South America, and is one
they can take the place of oil, coal and gas? of the fastest growing oil
The simple answer is nobody knows but
producers in the world.
some analysts believe solutions will come
from outside the existing energy sector,
perhaps from the nanotech or biosciences.
Factors that will no doubt have a bearing on
when solutions are found are the pace of
climate change and the future availability of
oil and gas.
What about that other piece in the energy
jigsaw: nuclear power? Once almost totally
discredited on safety grounds, it is now held
up by some as the solution to all the world’s
energy problems. Sources of uranium are
plentiful and, from a supply security point of
view, are spread evenly around the world.
It is also a green fuel in that CO
2
emissions
are negligible.
Many governments have now set
themselves targets for cutting carbon
emissions and some see the replacement
40 PLANET EARTH www.yearofplanetearth.org
PE9.Renewable energy.rkymw.indd 40 23/2/09 3:10:09 pm
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