By Giles Parkinson
One of the world’s leading energy experts, and the man dubbed the “Einstein of energy efficiency,” has debunked the claims that nuclear energy is essential to meet climate goals, saying that choosing nuclear over renewables and energy efficiency will make the climate crisis worse.
“Carbon-free power is necessary but not sufficient; we also need cheap and fast,” says Amory Lovins, the co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), who has been advising governments and companies on energy efficiency for half a century.
“We therefore need to count carbon and cost and speed. At actual market prices and deployment speeds, new nuclear plants would save many-fold less carbon per dollar and per year than cheaper, faster efficiency or modern renewables, thus making climate change worse. The more urgent you think climate change is, the more vital it is to buy cheap, fast, proven solutions — not costly, slow, speculative ones.”
[B]oosters in the media and so-called think tanks argue that nuclear is the best way to get to net zero by 2050, ignoring the pleas and warnings from climate scientists who say that unless emissions cuts are accelerated, the planet has little chance of keeping average global warming below 2.0° or even 2.5°C.A common refrain is that nuclear should be included as part of an “all of the above” strategy. “That makes climate change worse,” Lovins says. “No proposed changes in size, technology, or fuel cycle would change these conclusions: they’re intrinsic to all nuclear technologies.”
He noted that renewables add as much capacity every few days as global nuclear power adds in a whole year. “Nuclear is a climate non-solution (that) isn’t worth paying for.
“Nuclear power has no business case or operational need. It offers no benefits for grid reliability or resilience justifying special treatment. In fact, its inflexibility and ungraceful failures complicate modern grid operations, and it hogs grid and market space that cheaper renewables are barred from contesting.”
Lovins says that grids in Europe have shown that renewable dominated grids can be run with great reliability “like a conductor with a symphony orchestra” with comparatively little storage, and little is needed if politicians and grid operators embraced the full potential of energy efficient and demand site incentives.
— Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of the EV-focused The Driven. He is the co-host of the weekly Energy Insiders Podcast. This article was published in Renew Economy, May 15, 2024
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