The Rise of Renewable Energy

The rise of renewable energy is still a huge talking point, therefore it is no big surprise that the debate of nuclear vs renewable energy is still at the forefront of most headlines. As we start to see just how much renewable energy is on the incline, can we really be sure that renewable energy is the way to go?

We know that renewable energy is on the rise due how convenient it is. It is much faster to install and much more scalable than nuclear power is. There is a myth that we need to build more nuclear power if we want to cut electricity emissions quickly. This is something than renewable energy is keen to suppress, especially with it fast becoming the most popular source of power.

There are many advantages of renewable energy. One major advantage renewable energy has over nuclear is that it can typically be installed much faster. Nuclear power plants can require 5-15 years to complete and some have taken much longer than this. There is no doubt that this is obviously going to sway people to choose renewable energy over nuclear.

To make a clear example of this, installing a solar power farm can be completed in a number of months, depending on the extent and complexity of the project. The same can be said about wind farms, which is also only a matter of months depending on the projects complexity. In 2017 alone, China managed to install around 52 MW of solar, this is around 330 acres. The continued popularity of this energy source is bound to go from strength to strength if it continues to become this easily available.

If this continued popularity continues to flourish, the cost of renewables is more likely to keep decreasing, especially as fossil fuel usage declines. With more demand and adoption, it will continue to increase the innovation to make renewables more and more efficient which will in turn boost their effectiveness and the speed at which you can get large amounts of power onto the grid.

Renewable energy is more scalable and better to address global warming than nuclear, mainly because it costs much less, takes less time to install, and doesn’t carry the problem of potentially causing disastrous damage.

All in all, it seems that renewable energy is the way to go, with it being more cost effective and much faster to install we are bound to see this become the most popular source of energy in years to come.

What do you think about this form of energy? Do you think that this is the best way to go or do you think nuclear will always win? Tweet us @HighfieldREC to let us know.