do we need nuclear energy to stop
climate change
more and more voices from science
environmental activists and the press
have been saying so in recent years but
this comes as a shock to those who are
fighting against nuclear energy and the
problems that come with it
so who's right
well
it's complicated
to slow rapid climate change the world
needs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
to net zero
in 2018 three quarters of global
emissions were released through energy
production namely by burning fossil
fuels
energy is a broad term that describes
all sorts of stuff from moving things
and people around to putting things big
and small together or heating our homes
currently 84 of the world's primary
energy comes from fossil fuels 33 from
oil 27 from coal and 24 from gas
around 10 percent of the global oil
supply is just used to burn in boilers
to make our homes cozy and warm
only about 16
of global energy is from low emission
sources almost seven percent from
hydroelectric five percent from solar
wind bioenergy wave tidal and geothermal
combined and about four percent from
nuclear
so we pretty much rely on coal oil and
gas to keep our civilization going which
means it's actually very hard to
transition away from them
to have a chance of escaping fossil
fuels without throwing humanity back
into the stone age one of the most
impactful things we can do is to
electrify as many sectors as possible
electricity is the stuff that appears
like magic when you plug something into
a socket so you can watch youtube
every industry that can switch from
burning fossil fuels to electricity
needs to do so from electric cars to
electric heaters
why do we need to bet so hard on
electricity
because we can produce electricity with
low emission technologies like solar
wind or nuclear
so electricity is a real lever for a
radical transition but there are a few
problems making this transition really
hard
first of all in most places in the world
electricity is still generated mostly by
burning fossil fuels and not only that
in the last 20 years the world's
electricity usage increased 73 percent
in absolute terms
while we are installing renewables at
record speeds at the same time the
amount of fossil fuel we're burning for
electricity still keeps rising year by
year
renewables have so far not been able to
catch up with the demand for new
electricity and so despite our progress
emissions from electricity are still
rising worldwide
the other alternative to fossil fuels is
nuclear and even though it's not
renewable its greenhouse gas emissions
are tiny compared to burning stuff
but in the last 20 years nuclear has
basically stagnated
countries like china india and south
korea built new reactors while germany
and japan have been actively taking
their nuclear plants offline which seems
a bit weird if we look at the countries
with the most low carbon electricity in
the world that get most of their juice
mainly from two sources nuclear or
hydropower
take france and sweden in france only
around 10 percent comes from fossil
fuels while 67 comes from nuclear and 23
percent from renewables primarily hydro
in sweden almost 30 percent comes from
nuclear power and about 45 from hydro
so we know that nuclear energy can work
at scale
on the technical side because of the
lack of investment and innovation in the
last few decades the majority of the
world's nuclear reactors are pretty old
technology that's very costly to replace
in most western countries building
nuclear reactors has become very
expensive for a variety of reasons like
a loss of know-how in constructing them
policy changes and increased regulatory
constraints so it can take a decade or
longer just to finish a power plant
in contrast countries like south korea
china india and russia are able to build
new nuclear reactors comparatively
quickly and at a competitive cost
still generally in the west the current
generation of nuclear power plants are
more expensive to build and maintain the
most fossil fuel alternatives
there are also the concerns about
nuclear waste and the fear of accidents
but we cover those in other videos in
more detail
we have designs for nuclear reactors
that solve many of their problems namely
small reactors that take less time and
money to get started there are also next
generation technologies that can already
turn radioactive waste into new fuel but
so far these have not been deployed at a
scale where they can have a significant
impact on the nuclear sector
considering these uncertainties some
argue that nuclear power is a dangerous
relic of the past and that we should
just let it go and focus on renewables
but while renewables undoubtedly are the
future of electricity they still have
their own huge challenges to overcome
before they can take over the vast
majority of the electricity grid
the main problem is reliability and
consistency
it's not always windy and the sun
doesn't always shine especially in the
mornings and evenings when humans need
the most electricity
the variations between seasons don't
make this issue easier to make
renewables reliable and not risk
blackouts we need massive storage
capacities where we can save energy
collected when the sun or wind are at
their peak and release it later when we
actually need it
until this is possible other sources of
electricity need to provide a
controllable load that creates the
reliability of supply that our
civilization needs to run properly
eventually we will be able to do this
with renewables but we need a lot of
batteries or storage power plants
right now we simply don't have the tech
and the capacities to make this
transition fast enough to replace fossil
fuels
but even if we could there's another
aspect we have to take into account
we're not just trying to kick fossil
fuels out of electricity we're trying to
replace energy with electricity
if we're going to electrify sectors that
currently use fossil fuels like cars or
heating we will need significantly more
electricity than we're currently using
everywhere around the world
and if the electricity needs of the
world population continue to grow as
they have over the last 20 years we'll
need even more it all comes down to one
thing no energy source is perfect all
have their own unique problems both
renewables and nuclear energy require
time investment and technological
innovation
on their own neither is ready to remove
fossil fuels from our electricity grid
although activists on both sides claim
that they are
in the end the question is how we want
to deal with all these challenges
should we give up nuclear immediately
and at least temporarily accept higher
emissions
will we try to extend the life of
current nuclear reactors and shut them
down afterwards while solving the
shortcomings of renewables or will we
invest in new nuclear technology to get
new nuclear reactor types that are
cheaper and safer or will we maybe do
both
opinion part starts here
considering the risks that climate
change poses for the biosphere and
humanity any technology that has a
chance of contributing to a solution
should be pursued that's just good risk
management and strategy
if preventing rapid climate change as
quickly as possible is our goal it might
be a good idea to see nuclear and
renewables not as opponents but as
partners
we know there's no time to waste so we
should keep all of our lower mission
players on the field
as things are both nuclear and
renewables need innovation and
investment but if we don't know yet
which technology will be ready how
quickly why not just invest in both and
see what happens
and on the topic of current capacities
if we take nuclear energy offline right
now then that missing capacity will be
replaced at least partially by fossil
fuels
even if new nuclear power plants in the
west are expensive in the long run it
may be cheaper to build them as long as
they prevent more fossil fuel capacity
being added and paying for the
consequences of rapid climate change
so
do we need nuclear energy
well it really depends how hard we
choose to make things for ourselves
and in a world that's already having a
really hard time quitting fossil fuels
why should we make things harder than
necessary
starting the change process and trying
something new is always difficult
luckily you don't have to do it all on
your own if you want to get out of a rut
we've got something for you
we are big fans of skillshare an online
learning community that offers thousands
of classes for all skill levels and tons
of creative disciplines like
illustration animation or film and video
or you could try a class on home
decoration growing house plants or
playing the guitar there's something for
everyone really
unlimited access to all the classes is
less than ten dollars a month with an
annual premium membership and the first
1000 cutsces viewers to click the link
in the description will get a free trial
since we started working with skillshare
you our viewers have taken over 100 000
hours of classes including our own three
skillshare classes on how we make our
animations if you want to learn more
about motion graphics give them a try
and if you need an extra little push to
get you going maybe get started with
some advice on motivation and
inspiration we liked the scientific
method for artists find inspiration get
motivated and grow your creative skills
by kendall hillegas in this class
kendall explains her four-phase process
for exploring and figuring out your
direction as an artist for us it was a
great way to get into the flow of
creating something but anything that
makes you feel excited and sparks new
ideas is a great first step if you want
to get creative with new skills and
support kotzkazak give it a
come go
[Music]