• How fast can we clean electricity?
  • We’ve already beat this build out rate
  • What about oil?
  • How do renewables compare in speed?

How fast can we clean electricity?

Dr James Hansen recommends we build just 115 Gigawatts of reactors a year to clean up all electricity on earth. 115 GW reactors a year covers both population growth and everyone sharing a futuristic first world lifestyle. 115 GW reactors a year does the job by 2050, in over just three decades.

We’ve already beat this build out rate

On a reactor to GDP ratio the French already beat this build out rate in the 70’s when they built 15 reactors a year under the Mesmer plan.

Just how realistic is it to think we can build 100 nuclear plants per year? Remember that France built up to six per year during their conversion to nuclear, so let’s look at Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a guide to what a given country can financially bear for such a project, keeping in mind that France proceeded without the sense of urgency that the world today should certainly be ready to muster. There are six countries with higher GDPs than France, all of whom already possess the technology to build fast reactors: USA, China, Japan, India (they’re building one now), Germany, and the United Kingdom. Add Canada and Russia (which already has one running and is planning more), then tally up the GDP of these eight countries. At the rate of 6 plants per year with France’s GDP, these countries alone could afford to build about 117 IFRs per year, even without any greater urgency than the French brought to bear on their road to energy independence.
Page 243 Prescription for the Planet by Tom Blees.

What about oil?

The great news is that if we clean up electricity, as we move to Electric Vehicles we also clean up transport. Indeed, we could charge a third of all vehicles on today’s grid if we just turn power plants up to full! Other transport solutions also become available with abundant nuclear power — explore at the link above.

How do renewables compare in speed?


Next Big Future  Jan 2014