• Question: Do you rather nuclear energy or environment generated energy (wind,solar,water)?

    Asked by Default to Hummy, Lewis, James, Sandra on 14 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Lewis Wright

      Lewis Wright answered on 14 Mar 2017:

      I used to be pro-nuclear, as I thought that anything that wasn’t releasing carbon was better than something that was.

      Then I started to learn about nuclear power plants; how difficult it is to get rid of the waste they produce, how much money they cost to build and decommission, how much concrete they use, and how accidents happen even when everyone is super careful.

      As a result, I am only happy to throw my weight behind 100% renewables (nuclear is carbon-free, but it’s not renewable!). I believe that if we have the money for power plants, we have the money to invest in wind and solar research, and also offshore wind farms (the UK has a LOT of wind!).

      I think the longer we put off fully transitioning to renewables, the harder it will be in the long run.

    • Photo: Sandra Greive

      Sandra Greive answered on 15 Mar 2017:

      Like Lewis said. I am a fan of renewable energy. While each of these can change the environment in various ways, solar, wind and tidal have far less impact that than anything that releases carbon or requires the longterm storage of nuclear waste. Hydro-electricity from dams is also a good source of energy, but can have a massive negative impact on the river system in which it is built. Another renewable source of energy is from geothermal power stations, like they use in Iceland. Lewis’ research is really really important for improving the efficiency for conversion light energy to electricity and giving us a really great source of solar power.

    • Photo: James Martin

      James Martin answered on 15 Mar 2017:

      I personally am a fan of nuclear (Fission). Given the size of the material, it’s absolutely incredible the amount of energy you can get out. I think significantly more work should be done to solve issues with the waste products, however, as it’s not really sustainable in it’s current form. There are some efforts in the US to try and resolve these issues, so hopefully they will work out.

      Fusion is still in research mode, but promises to be the golden goose of energy (it’s how the sun generates light). It doesn’t suffer from the radioactivity issues as with fission, but is very technically challenging. They’re building ITER in France, which promises to be the first reactor to generate more energy than what is put in.

      I like renewables, but it’s very expensive. I hope they can bring down the costs, so people in developing countries (not just Europe, US etc that can pass the higher costs onto taxpayers) can also access these clean sources of energy.

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