Solar Energy Can't do it alone- What about Nuclear Energy?

Proponents of alternate energy generation generally support “green” technologies like solar and wind. These same green advocates often shun nuclear energy and point to a long list of dangers inherent in that technology. Yet blind support of solar power is like demanding that you use rubber bands to power you car. For solar to work, we'll need to make big adjustments in our homes and lifestyles.

Solar powered electricity generation made up less than 1% of the generation mix in 20007. According to the Solar Electric Power Association, there were “473MW [megawatts] of grid-connected photovoltaics installed throughout the entirety of the U.S. as of the end of 2007”. Assuming that this 473 MW of grid tied resource got an average of 6 hours of sun each day, they would produce about 1,035,870 Megawatt hours of electricity in a year.

This is not merely a numbers game. We won’t meet our energy needs by doubling or tripling or even quadrupling our photovoltaic generation.

Nuclear electricity generation produced record levels in 2007. Energy Information Administration data show that nuclear generation climbed slightly this May. “Nuclear output rose 13 percent in May 2008 compared with the preceding month. Even with the increase, generation was slightly below May 2007 (less than half a percent difference). Cumulative generation for the first five months of 2008 is slightly over one percent lower than in the record year of 2007.”

In 2007, 806,486,978 Megawatt Hours of electricity was produced by nuclear reactors in the USA. Thirty two states produce a portion of their electricity from nuclear power and 20% of all electricity produced in the USA came from nuclear reactor generation in 2007.

The challenge here when talking about ways to solve climate change and reduce green house gas emissions tied to electric energy production is the big gap between what the public seems to want for power generation -clean power- versus what the public wants in terms of the growing electricity demand.

One typical residential solar photovoltaic setup with twelve 100 watt PV collectors in a sunny part of the USA might be capable of producing 216 kilowatt hours per month or 2.5 Megawatt hours per year.

The South Texas Project 1 nuclear facility produced almost 12 million megawatt hours in 2007. The smallest nuclear generation facility, Point Beach 1 in Wisconsin produced almost 4 million megawatt hours. It would take over 18,000 homes running 1.2 KW photovoltaic systems in a sunny climate to come anywhere close to the generation output of the smallest nuclear facility.

Let’s face it folks. If we want to maintain our current standard of living it will take more than solar power to run the nation. Actually, it will take advancements in every electricity generation sector plus a lot of conservation success to keep up with projected electricity demand.

William Tucker offers his perspective for going nuclear in his interesting The Case for Terrestrial (a.k.a. Nuclear) Energy. You may not want to hear it, but you really should try to understand all sides in our great energy debate.

For more nuclear facts visit the International Atomic Energy Agency and read some IAEA Newsletters.