Human WorldScience Wire

Wind and solar energy capacity catching with nuclear power

Image via and solarwinddepot.com
Image via and solarwinddepot.com

The Worldwatch Institute – which describes itself as “an independent research organization based in Washington, D.C. that works on energy, resource, and environmental issues” – said today (September 30, 2014) that energy generation capacity via wind and solar is catching up with that of nuclear energy. In the Worldwatch Institute’s latest Vital Signs Online analysis, senior researcher Michael Renner wrote:

Advocates of nuclear energy have long been predicting its renaissance, yet this mode of producing electricity has been stalled for years. Renewable energy, by contrast, continues to expand rapidly, even if it still has a long way to go to catch up with fossil fuel power plants.

Worldwatch says that nuclear energy’s share of global power production has declined steadily from a peak of 17.6 percent in 1996 to 10.8 percent in 2013.

Meanwhile, renewables such as wind and solar increased their share of global power production from 18.7 percent in 2000 to 22.7 percent in 2012.

WorldWatch said at its website:

Following a rapid rise from its beginnings in the mid-1950s, global nuclear power generating capacity peaked at 375.3 gigawatts (GW) in 2010. Capacity has since declined to 371.8 GW in 2013, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Adverse economics, concern about reactor safety and proliferation, and the unresolved question of what to do with nuclear waste have put the brakes on the industry.

In stark contrast, wind and solar power generating capacities are now on the same soaring trajectory that nuclear power was on in the 1970s and 1980s. Wind capacity of 320 GW in 2013 is equivalent to nuclear capacity in 1990. The 140 GW in solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity is still considerably smaller, but growing rapidly.

Read more via the WorldWatch Institute

Posted 
September 30, 2014
 in 
Human World

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