In France, nuclear power is the most widespread, supplying 80 percent of the country's electricity. A protest movement exists, called Sortir du Nucléaire, or "Get Out of Nuclear," but it appears to have made little headway.
As of 2004, nuclear power provided 6.5% of the world's energy and 15.7% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 57% of nuclear generated electricity.
Nuclear energy would be dominant source of energy by now if it hadn't been Chernobyl and Three Miles island (nuclear disasters).
Nuclear energy is really making a comeback because nuclear energy has virtually none greenhouse gases emission and therefore isn't warming the planet and causing global warming like some other energy source
We would not be in such a dependence on foriegn oil if we would have chosen nuclear power 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the problems with our dependence in oil is the unwillingness of the world to change. Although changing your lifestyle to a greener way of life might be good for the Earth and its inhabitants, it can be very expensive. Not everyone is willing to buy new, more fuel efficient cars or solar panels. Also, even though both oil and nuclear energy have both been responsible for unimaginable disasters on our planet, i think the general perception is that nuclear energy is scarier. For example, after the disaster with Reactor #4 in Chernobyl, the land that the reactor was on will not be safely inhabitable for over 20,000 years. Oil has been working pretty well for us so far so i think that is why we like to stick to using it.
ReplyDeleteI think that the world can have different energy sources and i think this would help us to not become over dependent on one, giving certain countries too much power. For example, most of the middle eastern counrties rely entirely on oil to fuel their economy. ALthough fosil fuel could still be used, some countries, like France, could use nuclear energy and some could use bio fuels like algae and corn. WIth one type of energy becoming too popular, problems are innevitable.
ReplyDeleteI agree but this isn't going to stop countries from having too much power. Governments grow and grow until they collapse, like a cancer. Its a historical fact; it always happens. Relying on one thing like Oil doesn't even give governments power, it gives government-backed corporations power.
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