Category Archives: Lesson 02 – Searching for Niche

L2 Learning Activity: Searching for the Entrepreneurial Niche – Cole

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     It is true, some renewable energy projects are failing to receive the same degree of support from the financial community and the government that nuclear does. In my opinion, I believe this is because we can generate much more electricity from nuclear than we can from any other renewable energy resource. With higher capital costs, it is much more expensive to build a nuclear facility and financial backing essential for this industry. With nuclear power generation, it can be built anywhere and relies on two of the most abundant substances of Earth, Water and Uranium, which are not hard to get. While as for other renewables like solar and wind, they rely on radiation and air currents which are best in only specific locations. We have learned in this lesson that no new nuclear power facilities have been built for over 35 years. Yet nuclear power still generates 19% of the nation’s electricity while other renewables generate 10% according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. I can also imagine a lot of government intervention in and lobbying from this industry which could also have an effect on this degree of support.

     Some niche opportunities I see for entrepreneurs in the global development of renewable energy sources are hydro-kinetic energy, or off shore wind generation, expanded bio-gas generation technology around the world to agricultural areas, and in the near future I see a new renewable source of energy using infrared emissions from the sun. I have included a link about that down below:

http://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/03/infrared-new-renewable-energy-source

Bibliography from EIA:

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=92&t=4

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=104&t=3

Searching for the Entrepreneurial Niche – MSWALE

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I believe this has to do with nuclear being a complex subject, in many ways nuclear is talked about more often due to the health and safety concerns people have with them. Because of this I believe this renewable resource gets more public attention but nonetheless it does not change the fact that this is a renewable energy with little to no pollution and is very efficient. Which is why I think it has more support from the financial community and the government. They believe nuclear is the way to go to provide environmentally friendly, greener energy and know there are risks involved with this type of energy so they still implement stricter regulations for nuclear plants to follow. This isn’t really the case with solar, geothermal, or hydro so often they are less talked about. Solar for example has improved over the years and has gained some attention in recent years but still holds a small share of producing electricity. I believe solar has not been able to gain much support for a couple of reasons, the first being the lifespan of them. The lifespan is expected to be around 30-40 years, however the efficiency of the solar panel goes down a certain percentage each year, so even though their total life is 30-40 years they may be 90% efficient in the first couple years but closer to 30 years may only be 30-40% efficient. This also depends on what type of material the solar panel is made of for example, monocrystalline will be more efficient and last longer than a thin-film solar panel. The second reason is the price of solar panels, they are still fairly expensive to get and install. However, there is government and state incentives for getting solar panels on residential and commercial building and some areas can even get paid by utility companies for have a renewable energy. Overall, I believe nuclear gets more attention than other renewable resources because of how much they can generate, nuclear plants can take over the production of a coal or natural gas plant and be more efficient and cleaner. When we talk about solar or geothermal, often times they are referred to for residential use (single system for one home, versus nuclear can cover 100’s of homes).