The Great Energy Dilemma; Will Nuclear Power Put a Stop on Air Pollution?

Continuing from my previous post that energy production represents a major source of air pollution especially from the combustion of fossil fuels, today I am going to discuss about other renewable energy sources.

Breakdown of Damage Costs by Industrial Sector
Source: European Environment Agency

Unsurprisingly, a recently published report by European Environment Agency has revealed that energy production is still the leading industrial source of air pollution (67%) that dwarfs other major industries such as manufacturing and agriculture industries. For example, it is reported that 29 coal-fired power-generating facilities are in the top 30 most polluting facilities in Europe. Other significant polluting industries after power generation are production facilities of iron and steelworks. 

Although it has already been universally known that burning of coal to generate energy is a highly pollutive method that emits high amounts of greenhouse gases, nitrogen oxides and sulfate dioxide, coal accounts for 40% of the world's electricity needs and the demand for coal has not shown any signs of slowing in the near future. This is because coal burning has always been the cheapest way of generating electricity since Industrial Revolution. As a result, cleaner renewable non-burning energy sources such as solar energy, wind energy and hydropower are still not as economically competitive as compared to energy generation via coal burning. 

One major difficulty that is still preventing renewable energy sources to compete with fossil fuel burning; is the lack of efficient energy storage system to cope with peak demands of electricity due to the high cost and difficulty in store large amount of electricity. For instance, solar energy only generates electricity in the day when there is sunlight but the peak demand of electricity is usually in the night time where a greater amount of electricity is required to power lightings in major cities and households. Therefore, more investment to create more efficient smart grid is required before renewable energy can compete with the reliable and cheaper coal burning. 

In addition, other renewable sources of energy can also cause other form of environmental degradation in one way or another. For instance, the manufacturing of solar panels require the use of toxic heavy metals such as lead  (neurotoxin) and cadmium (carcinogen), which will pose as a great hazard with improper disposal at the end of their shelf life. Even hydropower is known to result in the destruction of downstream aquatic ecosystems and may even worsen droughts if not being managed carefully.

Contrary to the public perception that nuclear power is deemed highly unsafe due to the fear of nuclear meltdown and potential nuclear enrichment for nuclear weapons; nuclear power technologies have improved by leaps and bounds to become a reliable, safe and yet truly green energy. For instance, Thorium has been hailed as the future nuclear fuel that will reduce the risk of an potential nuclear meltdown and it is also difficult for the enrichment of Thorium to make nuclear bombs. Furthermore, the advancement in nuclear technology has even enabled us to recycle hazardous nuclear waste by using them as fuels to generate more power. Perhaps advanced nuclear power will be the answer to the world's energy dilemma in years to come, solving the air pollution issue as it can satisfy our ever-growing energy demand without emitting any air pollutants.