A University of Colorado professor says it’s possible to reach net-zero U.S. carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, as sought by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, as long as you bring on one new nuclear power plant every other day.
Roger A. Pielke Jr., who teaches in the environmental studies program at the Boulder campus, ran the numbers on Democratic proposals to achieve carbon neutrality, which range from the New York Democrat’s 2030 goal to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s 2050 target.
To reach net-zero emissions by 2030, or in 3,746 days from now, would mean deploying about four nuclear power plants per day globally, and “for the United States, the deployment of a new nuclear plant about every other day.”
“We don’t often see these numbers for obvious reasons,” Mr. Pielke said in a Monday op-ed in Forbes. “The scale — no matter what assumptions one begins with — is absolutely, mind-bogglingly huge.”
Achieving net-zero carbon emissions worldwide by 2050 would mean firing up three nuclear power plants every two days the size of the Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station in Homestead, Florida, which produces about 1 mtoe [millions of tons of oil equivalent] in a year.
Lots of discussion and comments on this piece, thanks.
The scale of net-zero carbon dioxide is tough to appreciate, this is my attempt to put it into readily comprehensible terms ⤵️ https://t.co/jtAxkuLtKx— Roger Pielke Jr. (@RogerPielkeJr) October 2, 2019
Of course, Democrats are split on nuclear power. The Ocasio-Cortez Green New Deal resolution calls for solar and wind energy, but says nothing about nuclear, although the congresswoman has said her plan “leaves the door open for nuclear so that we can have that conversation.”
Among the 2020 Democratic presidential primary candidates, Sen. Cory Booker and Andrew Yang have expressed support for building new-generation nuclear power plants, while Sen. Bernie Sanders is leery, calling it a “false solution.”
Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has committed to achieving 100% carbon neutrality on electricity emissions by 2030 — and 100% renewable, zero-emission energy by 2035 — while phasing out nuclear power by 2035.
“We’re not going to build any nuclear power plants and we’re going to start weaning ourselves off nuclear energy and replacing it with renewable fuels,” she said at last month’s CNN town hall on the “climate crisis.”
What that means: lots of windmills. Using wind energy instead of nuclear to achieve net-zero global emissions by 2050 would require deploying about 1,500 wind turbines over about 300 square miles “every day starting tomorrow and continuing to 2050,” Mr. Pielke said.
He pointed out that the world is actually moving away from net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions, adding last year “more than 280 mtoe of fossil fuel consumption and 106 mtoe of carbon-free consumption,” he said, citing figures provided by the BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
“In a round number, the deployment rate of carbon-free energy would need to increase by about 800%,” Mr. Pielke said. “Make no mistake, these numbers are sobering. They indicate in readily understandable terms that the world, and the United States, are not moving towards net-zero carbon dioxide emissions and in fact, every day, we are moving in the opposite direction.”
Reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 may require an enormous undertaking, he said, but it is not impossible as long as policymakers and others understand the scale of the challenge.
Read rest at Washington Times
let’s stop giving AOC undeserved attention for ludicrous statements, policies and attitudes she espouses. CO2 is not the thermostat, driver or cause, of virtually any warming. Reducing CO2 is actually counter-intuitive. Intelligent, informed, sane people know and understand the role of CO2 in our environment.
Put a nuke reactor in AOC’s riding . You know a climate saving solution .
Proving once more that we are well-surrounded by idiots! As per above comments, these idiots have no idea at all what life would be like without the production of carbon dioxide as a by-product. They also have no idea that fossil fuels are nothing of the sort, are the most useful source not just of energy but at least one hundred thousand useful products. Roll on that next ice-age, mini or not, so that the general public can get a feel of energy poverty and hopefully will wake up and smash those idiots out of public existence. The news media are as much to blame as those idiots, just remember that.
The article’s analysis is excellent. However, we need to remember for what some of the climate change activists want to do developing CO2 free energy wouldn’t be needed at a high level. These are the people who want to use climate change to force de-industrialization by making energy scarce and expensive. There wouldn’t be the power for manufacturing so that would be shut down. Very few people would own cars that they could use so everyone would rely on public transportation. In areas where this isn’t practical houses would be abandoned. In winter everyone would wear coats inside because heating homes wouldn’t be affordable. Yet, even this scenario couldn’t work. Our population is now to the point where we couldn’t run agriculture on horse and ox power. The current population requires not only the machinery, but fertilizers that are derived from fossil fuels. It is obvious that none of these plans to go to net zero can work. It is a good thing that carbon dioxide has every little influence if any on the climate.
It doesn’t really matter about nuclear or not. If the ignorant anti-CO2 folks have their way, we’ll have zero CO2 in our atmosphere. When that occurs, all the vegetation on Earth will die, closely followed by the animal population and the complete eradification of any form of life on our planet. CO2 is an essential part of the life cycle on this planet, and if you remove the CO2, all forms of life go with it.
Here in Australia, the price of electricity has doubled in the last 10 years, due to our drive for heavily-subsidised wind and solar renewables combined with the regular decommissioning of our remaining coal-fired power plants.
Each summer, our electricity grid becomes more fragile and unstable. This summer, the chances of rolling blackouts across the south-eastern states are high.
Next summer, they’ll be higher. And so it goes on.
Dr Roger Pielke Jnr has done us all a great service in adding his assessment of the enormity (and insanity) of the task which still lies ahead if the world is to pursue the Green Blob’s agenda into the future.
The ‘powers-that-be’ (elites, globalists, Fabians .. call them what you will) are on a tight schedule. They must use the Global Warming/Climate Change scare quickly to assume totalitarian control of the free world, before it becomes apparent to the voting masses that their brave new world running on moonbeams and unicorn farts, instead of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, is a total and utter sham.
Only when the young, planet-saving, greenie hordes have tasted the very unpleasant deprivations of an energy-poor existence will they start to realise how they’ve been duped.
We can only hope they wake up soon.
Interested,
I hope you comment again. It is good to have the Australian view point.
I think the Democrats have moved onto something they could handle .
Banning plastic straws .
The Green New Debacle is old news . It was a parody .
The proliferation of green energy has been subsidized, necessarily , by fossil and nuclear fuels. We can afford the luxury of renewables only from our established economy. Wind and solar energy is still an economic drag. Demolishing coal-fired generating stations is an example of the Socialists biting the hands that feed them.
If fossil fuels are to be replaced., it all goes back to the ONLY fundamental question that needs to be answered to meet the energy transition challenge in the U.S: “What CLEAN, SCALABLE and SUSTAINABLE alternatives are needed to replace 95% of our transportation fuel & industrial heat and 65% of our electricity generation?” As I’ve said many times, drama & theater don’t have any basis in reality when you deal with energy imperatives…