It was a shower thought for me this morning, after having seen all these record temperatures being broken around the world.
But, if it gets too hot to cycle, then people won’t. And if they aren’t cycling, they may start driving again, which compounds climate change even further.
Does this worry anyone else?
The same thing is actually happening to nuclear power plants: they need a nearby source of water to keep the reactors cool and afair something like 40% of the ones in France (which is one of the main nuclear power generating countries in the world) are operating at far below expected output because the water isn’t cold enough anymore,like.
Granted, nuclear power wasn’t a viable solution anyway, what with the gigantic waste problem, but most governments seem to be allergic to clean energy (or the comparative lack of people in the sector willing to bribe politicians and other officials), so it was the least awful way available in the case of most of the world. Now the climate change it was supposed to mitigate is making it less efficient and more risky to the point that it’ll eventually, maybe soon,stop being viable at all 🤦
Nuclear energy is clean. Waste can be reprocessed and reused, when it’s completely and utterly spent it’s essentially no longer radioactive and can be safely buried. There is also emerging nuclear technology that can continue to generate energy from mostly spent fuel. The amount of waste produced is almost negligible, especially when compared to other fuel-based energy systems. Nuclear is also far more productive and efficient than wind or solar, and requires less space. I firmly believe nuclear energy has a place among the clean green energy sources of the future.