Choate’s recent student-led divestment movement has advocated for shifting part of Choate’s endowment from fossil fuel to renewable energy investments. The term “fossil fuels” can be vague, and, for the sake of clarification, I’ll say term refers to coal, natural gas, and oil. The use of coal-based power generates 40%, natural gas 26%, and oil 1% of America’s electricity needs. All these methods release dangerous carbon emissions into the air, polluting the atmosphere and causing temperatures to rise.
While many may know this, and divesting from dangerous fossil fuels is certainly a good idea, the benefits of renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydro power are not all they are claimed to be. Instead, Choate and the world at large should focus on investing in nuclear power, a cleaner and much more productive energy source that is overly-stigmatized and, frankly, better.
The renewable energy fad is one that has taken America by storm; many believe that by wielding the power of nature, we can create an unlimited amount of energy. This belief however, has some fallacies to it. Currently, renewable energy only meets about 13% of America’s energy needs. Solar, wind, and hyrdro plants are only operated 93, 118, and 141 days out of the year, respectively. Being “opened for business” less than half of a year limits job opportunities and their efficiency to produce power. This shows that clean energy plants are often poorly managed and not efficient.
Even when operating 24/7, these plants can only generate electricity at a 33.9% capacity factor, meaning that for every 100 megawatts being used to power renewable energy plants, these plants are only producing 33.9 megawatts in return. Renewable energy is thus classified as a secondary power resource: it is not efficient enough to meet America’s energy needs alone.
There is certainly a better place for Choate to procure its funds: nuclear power. Currently, nuclear power provides the U.S. with 20% of electricity. However, a single nuclear plant produces the same amount of electricity to meet the yearly needs of one million households (about the size of Chicago). To match this power, one would need 40 wind farms or 550 Solar Photovoltaics. Nuclear power plants also operate at a 92% capacity factor, which makes aforementioned 34% factor of renewable sources pale in comparison. For these reasons, nuclear power is classified as a “peak power” resource, it creates enough energy to be a single electricity producer with no other supplementation.
In addition to solely being able to meet American electricity needs, nuclear plants create vast amount of employment opportunities. Operating 24/7, a nuclear plant can create 400 to 700 permanent jobs, which on average pay 36% more than average salaries in surrounding local areas. Construction of a nuclear power plant creates up to 3,500 jobs alone.
A single power plant generates approximately $470 million yearly, and pays $16 million in local taxes and $67 million in state taxes annually. These taxes would allow for the creation schools, roads, and other infrastructures.
Currently, the U.S. nuclear industry employs close to 100,000 people, and generates approximately $50 billion per year. In just two years this could “out-revenue” the wind industry, which has represented a total investment of $100 billion.
Additionally, nuclear energy is low-carbon production, and avoids the emission of over two billion tons of carbon dioxide each year. While one might be concerned with meltdowns, the chance of one is unlikely. The infamous Chernobyl and Three Mile Island meltdowns occurred because of faulty technology decades ago. The more recent Fukushima disaster was a result of poor placement of the power plant: on a fault line. With updated nuclear reactors and careful planning, accidents can be avoided. In terms of waste, new developments in nuclear technology, such as molten salt reactors, can make use of hazardous uranium from traditional nuclear plants for further energy use, and reduce its radioactivity.
Further investments in nuclear power can progress the development of nuclear fusion, an even more efficient variation of nuclear power to create energy. To put this in perspective, one kilogram of fusion fuel can provide the same amount of energy as ten million kilograms of fossil fuel. There’s no long-lived radioactive waste. The small amounts of fuel used in fusion devices (about the weight of a postage stamp) means that a large-scale nuclear accident is not possible.
As a forward-looking school, Choate Rosemary Hall is right to pull its head out of the fossil beds, but it needn’t get caught up in falsely-promoted renewable energy sources. Let’s look instead to the many advantages of a nuclear future.
