Increased Reliance on Nuclear Energy and Wind Power (Research Paper Sample)

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Increased Reliance on Nuclear Energy and Wind Power
Most of the national governments across the world have taken up the support towards policies designed to address the issue of carbon emission reductions which are rather performance-based as well as technology neutral. Even as the agencies believe that nuclear energy bears an essential role in addressing such global needs in terms of reducing emissions based on energy generation, it remains the position of such agencies that the carbon-reduction policies are not explicitly privileged any a given energy source over others. For this reason, the policies are continually evaluated on energy sources based on their respective abilities in reliably contributing to the attainment of the carbon reduction goals. Up to the present day, there are few states as well as local governments which have fully embraced the approaches that in turn explicitly include elements of nuclear energy across the targeted ways for the reduction of carbon emissions (Stolten & Scherer 67). For this reason, there are clean and renewable energy portfolios which are mandated for both technologies and fuel sources. As such, this will exclude all other forms of energy technologies regarded on a priori basis. The governments are also contending that the technology neutral policies (performance-based) approaches will be a standard measure for the best ways of encouraging innovation and achieving intended courses of action such as the carbon reduction goals.
It is considered that nuclear energy remains an essential component for the policies which are designed towards addressing the risks availed by the changing climate patterns and the future energy needs. This is also coupled with the belief that increased engagement of nuclear energy to offset the fossil fuels use where appropriate presents an effective way of actually reducing the levels of global carbon emissions. Further, nuclear energy delivers comprehensive large amounts of such reliable and economically competitive forms of electricity that has no carbon emissions in the reactor operations. It also has the lowest lifecycle levels of carbon emissions among all other energy sources.
The nuclear energy becomes an essential component of the most appropriate energy technologies that has a proven capability to deliver large amounts of electricity base-load that is beneficial to modern industrial societies. It is also recognized that the energy diversity value reflects other subsequent low-carbon energy technologies (including wind, solar as well as hydro) (Wengenmayr & Bihrke 89). These should be deployed appropriately in course of recognizing the overall drawbacks and benefits linked to each of the technologies. On the other hand, with an exception of hydro, all renewable sources will be limited by the levels of intermittency which requires backup power storage or generation capabilities. For this reason, the competing priorities like land use and wildlife protection requirements constrain contributions of such inherently diffusing energy sources. In these cases, the policymakers will be careful to evaluate the external costs for such energy technologies.
In a practical manner, the non-hydro renewable are in turn in a position of supplying up to 15–20% of the overall capacity of the national electricity grid even though they directly cannot be applicable to be economic substitutes for the nuclear or coal power. However, the significant consideration is that there are various areas which have favorable conditions. For these reasons, the fundamental opportunity of the renewable energies is based on the abundance and widespread occurrence as well as the fundamental challenge for electricity supply in applying them to address demand with respect to the diffuse and variable nature. Such aspects also mean that they will be reliable electricity duplicate sources beyond normal system reserves and the electricity storage means (Stolten & Scherer 73). Relatively, the few places develop scope in terms of pumped storage dams which are close the power needing areas as well as the overall efficiency which is less than 80%. The means of storing electricity in large amounts especial in giant batteries and by subsequent means are yet to be developed.
The bottom line is that in case people would want clean water, clean air, and open spaces (not filled with enormous, intrusive, man-made structures such as square miles of solar panels and wind turbines on tall towers on deep and massive foundations having blades sweeping through the air across hundred miles every hour on the blade tip, there is a need to fight for nuclear energy over the industrial scale solar and wind. The campaigning on the notion that careful engineering, construction and maintenance of buildings as well as equipment (which are not even to be considered for important environmental concepts of recycle, reuse, restore and repair) should stop (Sayigh 72). Failure to this, deciding not to do anything in one’s power to avail protection to the natural environment for all forms of reasons possible, a generation of environmentalists will be lost.
Nuclear energy proponents argue that the advantages of nuclear power include the fact that it is a sustainable energy source that comes in handy in the reduction of carbon emissions as well as increasing the energy security in the event that the application suppliants are dependent on the imported fuels. Further, proponents of this aspect also advance a notion that such nuclear power virtually produces no air pollution as contrasted to chief viable alternatives to fossil fuels. It is also believed that the nuclear power is based on the viable courses towards the achievement of energy independence across various Western countries (Sadgrove 74). The emphasis in this case is that the overall risks of having to store waste become smaller and could be reduced through the use the latest inventions and technologies of newer reactors as well as the operational safety records from the Western world as excellent trends in comparison to the major forms of power plants.
However, opponents of nuclear power usage maintain that it poses a whole range of threats to mankind as well as the environment pointing to studies based on the literature questioning whether or not it will qualify as a sustainable source of energy. Such threats will include the health risks as well as environmental damage resulting from uranium mining, transport and processing where the nuclear weapons proliferation risks or sabotage may lead to unsolved problems of addressing and handling radioactive nuclear wastes. They contend that the reactors by themselves are extremely complex machines for cases where such things do go wrong. There are many severe nuclear accidents as a result (Richarz & Schulz 19). Most of these critics do not bear a belief that the risks are reduced on the basis of new technology. They continue to argue that while all these nuclear fuel chain energy-intensive stages are considered, ranging from uranium mining all the way to the nuclear decommissioning, various kinds of nuclear power are n...