Climate Change: Are We Losing the Carbon-Free Energy Market to China?

Co-sponsored by: Boston Section, life members affiliate group

The global carbon-free energy market, valued at $6 trillion, is increasing exponentially. This is because emissions from fossil fuel burning have raised carbon dioxide concentrations 35% higher than in the last millions of years. These emissions are warming our planet via the Greenhouse Effect and increasing weather extremes, like higher intensity hurricanes.    

In 1995, the US had 43% of the solar manufacturing market compared to China at 1%. Now the US market share has declined to 6%, as compared to China’s 60%. China dominates wind turbines with 40% of the market share with the US at 14%. Although China is the world’s largest carbon emitter, the per capita emissions of the US are the biggest, twice those of China and Europe.

Solar energy is available only 26% of the time and wind 33%.Nuclear is 24/7. The energy returned divided by the energy invested (EROI) in manufacturing and construction for nuclear plants is 47 times that of solar and 19 times that of wind.

Fear of nuclear reactors is hurting our environment.We are decommissioning them faster than the increase in wind and solar. To make up for this net decrease, we are increasing our burning of fossil fuels, raising carbon dioxide emissions which are warming our planet.

Westinghouse’s nuclear reactors being built in S. Carolina and in Georgia have gone bankrupt.China has 23 nuclear plants under construction and 33 planned.Bill Gates’ TerraPower nuclear pilot plant is being built in China with the Chinese National Nuclear Corp. This traveling wave reactor converts depleted uranium, a byproduct of the nuclear-fission process, into usable fuel, solving the nuclear waste storage problem.

Agenda:

3:30 Refreshments

4PM presentation & discussion

Location:
Bldg: Auditorium
Lincoln Lab
244 Wood Street
Lexington, Massachusetts
02421