Nuclear energy has been an attractive source since first developed in the late 1940’s. Continuous research and development has streamlined nuclear power fostering it’s capacity factor to approximately 90%, whereas the capacity factor for wind is 34%, solar photovoltaic 25%, and hydroelectric is 54% (EIA, 2013). The fact that nuclear is identified as a dispatchable technology, possesses a much higher capacity, and can reliably meet demand and base load capacity supplies makes it more attractive than renewables. Nuclear is perceived as being a much cleaner energy source than fossil fuels, and nuclear already supplies close to 20% of the energy in the U.S. Nuclear power plants are expensive to build but relatively cheap to run. In many places, nuclear energy is competitive with fossil fuels as a means of electricity generation (World Nuclear Association, 2014). Fossil fuels are still leading the energy sector and the government has tried to incentivize renewables, but politicians and lobbyists ultimately control policy on energy, which in turn affects investment. Investment in renewable energies is staying strong and if investors such as Warren Buffett keep investing in renewables the future looks bright. Warren Buffett briefly lost track of how many billions of dollars his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is spending to build wind and solar power in the U.S. That didn’t stop him from vowing to double the outlay (Buhayar & Polson, June 2014). I believe renewable energy financing will eventually surpass that of nuclear. Granted nuclear is a ‘clean’ energy source, there are far more safety risks and hazards than that of renewable. I believe worldwide renewable energy investment will grow larger as climate change becomes more and more obvious to the non-believers.
I believe there are several niche opportunities for entrepreneurs in the renewable energy sector. One such niche is battery storage. Battery storage would benefit both residential and commercial energy consumers. Commercial consumers would have back up energy for peak hour use or for emergency need. Residential would have back up power for non-windy or cloudy days for example. There is a huge market for renewable energy and especially battery storage in developing nations where infrastructure is lacking. Speaking of infrastructure, there is a need for efficient transmission lines, smart grid technology, and construction in developing nations, as well as in the U.S. I believe in the next couple years policy and financing for renewable energy will come together and substantial growth will take place.
References:
Buhayar, N. & Polson, J. (June 10, 2014). Buffett To Double Down on Renewable Energy
Investments. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2014/06/buffet-to-double-down-on-renewable-energy-investments
Energy Information Administration. (January 28, 2013). Levelized Cost of New Generation
Resources in the Annual Energy Outlook 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2014, from
http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/er/electricity_generation.cfm
World Nuclear Association. (June, 2014). The Economics of Nuclear Power. Retrieved from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Economic-Aspects/Economics-of-Nuclear-
Power.
Battery storage is absolutely a big future of renewable energy. The lower capacity factor makes the ability to store energy produced in peak production periods essential to make many forms of renewable energy commercially viable in a large scale way.
You can read my post at:
http://engr312.dutton.psu.edu/2014/09/09/searching-for-the-entrepreneurial-niche-michael-pittman/
Thanks,
Michael Pittman
I still believe that we must investment more in renewables. Nuclear can have devastating effects, not to mention where the half life of the waste. Future generations deserve to be considered. I will agree that nuclear is better than fossil fuels.
Hi Mark. I think your post was very thorough and agree with you that the reason nuclear gets more attention is because of its high capacity factor, reliability and base load capabilities. While our country relies on it for about 20 percent of its energy supply and the Obama Administration has said we will need to include it in the lofty goal of meeting 80 percent of our energy supply from clean energy sources by 2035, we have a long way to go to equal France’s investment in nuclear energy. France’s nuclear generation in 2012 represented 83 percent of the country’s total generation. It would seem to me that the better investment would be in nuclear energy because of its efficiency, zero carbon emissions and reliability rather than continue to spend tax payer dollars on renewable energy technology that is less reliable. Perhaps once large-scale battery storage capabilities are developed, other renewable energy sources could play a bigger role in the country’s energy mix.
http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=fr
Hi Christine, I do agree with you about nuclear being a better option instead of fossil fuels. I am just concerned for future generations and where the spent reactors and waste will be stored. The more investment spent on nuclear and carbon capture is also less investment for renewables.
Hi Mark,
A lot of time and money has been spent over the past decade on nuclear power. The Chinese are installing a new type of reactor called the CAP1400 reactor. They have 21 total nuclear power plants and 27 more being built. France is another country that gets a lot of its power from nuclear. In fact, France gets 75 percent of its electricity from nuclear. They have a total of 58 nuclear power plants. If there is a way to insure that nuclear power would be safe I think that is the way to go. Before GHG’s and global warming there wasn’t much improvement in the nuclear field. Now, it looks like the money being spent is paying off with some new and safer technologies.