![]() ![]() The burning of coal produces a great deal of carbon dioxide (CO 2), a greenhouse gas. Thus, I will not consider them as sustainable energy sources. Because the anticipated demand is high and because different technologies are better for different applications, it is likely that all of these sources will be tapped.Įconomically recoverable oil and natural gas will probably be depleted within a century or two, and both have attractive applications besides energy production. Table 1 provides an overview of the general suitability of each of these sources for sustainable energy production. The vast majority of the world’s energy in the coming centuries will come from a few sources: fossil fuels, the sun, biomass, wind, geothermal sources, nuclear fission, and (potentially) nuclear fusion. With that caveat in mind, let us boldly proceed. However, the possibility of unforeseen technological developments over such a long period of time introduces considerable uncertainty. In the following discussion of the relative merits of energy technologies hundreds of years into the future, we draw seemingly reasonable conclusions based on some fundamental truths. In this paper, I summarize options for sustainable energy production, discuss the need for a significant contribution from nuclear fission and its potential for providing such a contribution, and identify some challenges that must be met to achieve that potential. No production option has yet demonstrated the ability to meet a substantial fraction of projected demand sustainably: every option needs further research and development. For energy production to be sustainable, input requirements (including construction materials) must be available at reasonable financial and environmental cost, and the waste stream must have acceptably low economic and environmental impacts. The World Energy Council predicts a doubling of consumption to 800 EJ/yr (EJ = exaJoule = 10 18 J) by 2050 (WEC, 2002). Increases in world population and per-capita energy demand in the next few centuries are expected to cause a substantial rise in world energy use. Fission power has the potential to provide a large fraction of the world’s energy for centuries to come. ![]()
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