Nuclear vs solar?
Posted: Sat May 26, 2012 8:33 am
Before you make your statement, please make sure you read through this post carefully. If you have little knowledge about the topic or you seem to have no interest, then please press the backspace key on your keyboard (that's if you're on a PC). Thank you. 
Now, back on topic. We've been burning fossil fuels for centuries and it has been our most reliable and efficient source of energy. It powers our cars, lights up our homes, especially your computers which you are currently browsing the web on, like me. That's right, my PC entirely runs on coal power. They've been powering our factories, cities etc. However we cannot burn fossil fuels forever, not because there is a finite source of it, but because it's polluting our planet's atmosphere, creating a thick blanket of C02 trapping the sun's light on the surface and warming up the earth, hence the Greenhouse Effect aka Global Warming or Climate Change.
Many are skeptical about this not being caused by human activity but by other causes like the tilting of the earth's axis. Others completely disagree with Climate Change saying that it's a complete hoax, that it's a conspiracy among politics and other crap, I won't go any further than this, but it goes up my nerves a lot. I don't need any scientific proof to convince me that Climate Change is real, I just know it is because it makes sense. Even a prep can tell. Before we eventually choke on our own emissions, it would be very wise to act now. And this where the question comes in.
I believe that nuclear is the way to go. It is atomically powerful and a regular station can power up an entire city 24/7, 0 carbon emissions. However there are few problems that you're might be aware of like the recent incident in Japan when one of their reactors were hit by an earthquake. I'm not sure what the situation is currently though, very critical however. One of the other main problems when dealing with nuclear energy is where to store the radioactive waste, and that's something we don't really want on our backyard do we? Although if you haven't noted before there is a new generation of nuclear energy that may surface in the near future, and that is fusion power! I don't know how fusion reactors work but what I do know is that they do not meltdown when problems occur and that they do not produce nuclear waste. Now that's what I call efficient, safe and clean! There is still a lot of researching going on so we won't see a fusion reactor for some time.
About solar power, it's a good source of energy and it's infinite, but it will only work as long as it's day, but lets take that disadvantage aside for now. Did you know that if we cover the entire Sahara desert with solar panels, it could power the entire planet! Do you know what solar panels are made of? Silicon. And do you know where silicon comes from? Sand, and there's a whole mother load of it on the Sahara! Unfortunately, solar panels are expensive to make, just for now. Currently, as we are all experiencing, oil prices are going higher and higher while solar panels are actually getting cheaper and cheaper. When the two intersect, it would be best for the whole world to consider solar because it's cheaper plus it won't do any damage to the economy. Now because solar doesn't work at night, it doesn't mean they aren't effective. The problem can be solved simply by storing a percentage of the day's energy in batteries or other kinds of energy storage systems.
So... what will win? Honestly, I think nuclear will be No.1. I know it isn't currently the safest method of acquiring energy but in the near future we will no longer need to worry about the next generation of safe nuclear fusion reactors.
Now, back on topic. We've been burning fossil fuels for centuries and it has been our most reliable and efficient source of energy. It powers our cars, lights up our homes, especially your computers which you are currently browsing the web on, like me. That's right, my PC entirely runs on coal power. They've been powering our factories, cities etc. However we cannot burn fossil fuels forever, not because there is a finite source of it, but because it's polluting our planet's atmosphere, creating a thick blanket of C02 trapping the sun's light on the surface and warming up the earth, hence the Greenhouse Effect aka Global Warming or Climate Change.
Many are skeptical about this not being caused by human activity but by other causes like the tilting of the earth's axis. Others completely disagree with Climate Change saying that it's a complete hoax, that it's a conspiracy among politics and other crap, I won't go any further than this, but it goes up my nerves a lot. I don't need any scientific proof to convince me that Climate Change is real, I just know it is because it makes sense. Even a prep can tell. Before we eventually choke on our own emissions, it would be very wise to act now. And this where the question comes in.
I believe that nuclear is the way to go. It is atomically powerful and a regular station can power up an entire city 24/7, 0 carbon emissions. However there are few problems that you're might be aware of like the recent incident in Japan when one of their reactors were hit by an earthquake. I'm not sure what the situation is currently though, very critical however. One of the other main problems when dealing with nuclear energy is where to store the radioactive waste, and that's something we don't really want on our backyard do we? Although if you haven't noted before there is a new generation of nuclear energy that may surface in the near future, and that is fusion power! I don't know how fusion reactors work but what I do know is that they do not meltdown when problems occur and that they do not produce nuclear waste. Now that's what I call efficient, safe and clean! There is still a lot of researching going on so we won't see a fusion reactor for some time.
About solar power, it's a good source of energy and it's infinite, but it will only work as long as it's day, but lets take that disadvantage aside for now. Did you know that if we cover the entire Sahara desert with solar panels, it could power the entire planet! Do you know what solar panels are made of? Silicon. And do you know where silicon comes from? Sand, and there's a whole mother load of it on the Sahara! Unfortunately, solar panels are expensive to make, just for now. Currently, as we are all experiencing, oil prices are going higher and higher while solar panels are actually getting cheaper and cheaper. When the two intersect, it would be best for the whole world to consider solar because it's cheaper plus it won't do any damage to the economy. Now because solar doesn't work at night, it doesn't mean they aren't effective. The problem can be solved simply by storing a percentage of the day's energy in batteries or other kinds of energy storage systems.
So... what will win? Honestly, I think nuclear will be No.1. I know it isn't currently the safest method of acquiring energy but in the near future we will no longer need to worry about the next generation of safe nuclear fusion reactors.
End of rant. I hope there are no errors
If you haven't heard before, there are these new hybrid cars which have electrical generators in the brakes. So even the kinetic energy in the brakes doesn't get wasted!