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Do you have a reference to indicate that the carbon footprint is greater for renewables than nuclear? I tried to find some data on it and discovered this[1] IP
by jka 6y ago
Do you have a reference to indicate that the carbon footprint is greater for renewables than nuclear?
I tried to find some data on it and discovered this[1] IPCC report which indicates that renewables generally have lower lifetime emissions than nuclear, with the exception of utility-scale photovoltaic solar.
(I was surprised that any type of renewable has a larger lifetime emission estimate, so I'm puzzling over the reasons behind that now)
Edit: follow-up - also discovered a second report[2] published by the IPCC, which references two separate emissions estimates - one by the IPCC themselves as part of an 'AR5' report, and one published by SSRN (a separate organization).
The SSRN estimate indicates that solar photovoltaic (unspecified utility vs residential) is on an equal lifecycle emissions footing with nuclear.
[1] - https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_annex-iii.pdf#page=7 https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5...
[2] - https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_chapter7.pdf#page=29 https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5...
- pfdietz 6y agoI wonder if they assumed the utility scale solar used concrete footings. There are solar ground mounting systems that use no concrete at all, just steel earth anchors. In any case, CO2 released during construction is a poor metric. What matters is CO2 avoided per $.