Using some type of renewable fuel to generate electricity instead of nuclear reactors would take considerable land under today's technology, according to experts.
Policymakers concerned about the danger of an accidental release of radiation or the challenge of safely storing the waste for millions of years are considering alternatives to nuclear power. But fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas have their own drawbacks, including emissions that can cause climate change.
Nuclear energy and fossil fuels are compact and reliable. That makes replacing them as power sources difficult.
Author William Tucker calculated how much land would be required for each energy source to generate the 24-hours/seven-days-a-week power equal to one of the 1,225-megawatt reactors scheduled for Plant Vogtle in Burke County. What he found:
- 250 square miles of dammed-up water for hydropower, more than twice the size of Lake Thurmond
- 125 square miles for wind power, though it would have to be three times bigger to offset the fact that the wind doesn't blow a third of the time
- 25 square miles for solar, though there is currently no way to store solar energy for when the sun isn't shining
- 1,000 square miles of forest for a biomass plant
Mr. Tucker writes for many mainstream science magazines, but his views on energy are clear from the title of his 2008 book, Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America's Energy Odyssey.
As wind farms spread in the West and mountain ridges in the Midwest, where wind is more constant than in the Southeast, the Nature Conservancy has begun to talk about "energy sprawl." The private foundation estimates that compliance with all current federal energy mandates for renewable fuels would require land the size of Minnesota by 2030.
"It is not a paradox, just a trade-off: Renewable energy takes more space to produce than fossil-fuel energy, and society needs to think carefully about how best to meet that challenge," writes Rob McDonald, a Nature Conservancy scientist.
Reach Walter Jones at walter.jones@morris.com.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2010 Morris Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
"...though there is currently no way to store solar energy for when the sun isn't shining."
Ummm....isn't that what batteries do, you know, store electricity? Yes I realize batteries have drawbacks (lots of nasty heavy metals, production is bad for enviroment, so is disposal, dangerous, we'd need a ton of them, etc) but don't include stupid statements like that in your articles.
(I'm for nuclear power BTW)
The need for massive quantities of storage batteries for ALL forms of alternative energy is one of the things that make solar, wind, and bio even less desirable environmentally than nuclear. None of these technologies produce power 24 hours a day. The wind doesn't blow all of the time and the sun only shines half of the day. Their energy must first be stored in batteries and then converted to the proper output for use. No environmental studies have addressed the impact of massive uses of solar or wind for large quantity power production. I am sure the greeno whackos will find reasons to obstruct these technologies just as they have nuclear power. Anyone who seriously looks at energy production must conclude that nuclear power is efficient, proven, and most importantly, here today and working. Large scale alternative energy production is decades, or more, away and may be worse environmentally than what we have today. You can research alternative energy all that you want, but in the meantime build nuclear power plants, clean up coal emissions, and drill baby drill.
D-man, this is from Morris News Service, so it is probably trying to make alternative energy sources sound unfeasible. I will be curious to see how well that new solar neighborhood thing in Aiken does. If it does well then I guess there is promise that we can change gradually.
Walter,
I just wrote two articles on the amount of land required for nuclear, solar, and wind energies. You may be interested in looking at them:
http://www.cleanenergyinsight.org/energy-insights/what-does-renewable-en...
http://www.cleanenergyinsight.org/energy-insights/what-does-renewable-en...
Best,
Carrington Dillon
Clean Energy Insight
Maybe we should be trying to produce BETTER sources of energy instead of just alternative sources. They're not the same thing.