Small Modular Reactors: One component of a sustainable energy future?

Small Modular Reactors: One component of a sustainable energy future?

Posted in Technology on 12/07/2011 03:43 pm by Edward Levy According to the US Department of Energy, global energy use and carbon emissions are set to increase more than 50% by 2025. Demand in China and India is expected to escalate a combined 91%, with other developing countries close behind. Industrialised states’ needs’ are expected to grow by approximately one-third. Governments’ efforts to curb the resulting environmental effects are generally met with low expectations.
The world is at a vital crossroads. While wealthy countries’ consumption will increase less rapidly, it will still do so substantially. Simultaneously, developing states will continue their ever-greater pursuit of resources as they aim to close the economic gap with their industrialised peers.
Ensuring a sustained healthy natural environment and energy-secure future requires a multifaceted approach. No single source can be relied upon too heavily. Of course, fossil fuels are the principal cause behind these grave issues. While nobody definitively knows when reserves will be depleted, it is apparent that, regardless of how long it takes, pollution and price volatility will continue to be commonplace, especially with regard to oil. Though natural gas offers a cleaner alternative and in most cases a cheaper one as well, procurement methods like fracking mitigate such benefits by worsening environmental conditions. Renewables, regularly touted as a solution, pose their own issues.