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France gets a large portion of electricity from Nuclear, though the data I could find does not say France is GHG neutral. The second largest source looks to be

France gets a large portion of electricity from Nuclear, though the data I could find does not say France is GHG neutral. The second largest source looks to be oil at around 35% [1] This source, [2], goes on to state: "In 2022, France's power sector carbon emissions nearly reached 40 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), down from a century-peak of over 50 million tons recorded in 2005" [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:Energy_mix_in_France.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:E... [2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1290541/power-sector-carbon-emissions-france/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1290541/power-sector-car...

whimsicalism 3y ago
Energy != electricity That said, what I probably should have said is the capability to go GHG neutral. I believe that France has more domestic nuclear capacity than its domestic electrical conception.
- seadan83 3y ago
  This is a good resource looking at the energy capacity of france: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profil... This resource describes France's nuclear sector as aging: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55259 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55259. Between those two, it's not obvious to me that France could enable more nuclear capacity to account for the rest of their energy needs. I'm not sure I would even agree that GHG neutral is even a thing. Just because a person plants 1000 trees to account for emitting 10 tons of carbon today, the 10 tons of carbon were still emitted today while those trees need decades to even get close to break-even (and in the meantime they can burn, contribute to mono-cultures, possible not grow at all, be double sold as offsets, etc..) More concretely, I think it's like calling a Geothermal plant GHG neutral if it powers a facility that pulls down as much carbon as the thermal plant emits. As an aggregate, there is actually a true net zero there, but the thermal plant is still a positive contributor to emissions.* The first resource linked earlier states it pretty well: "As a result of the 1974 decision, France now claims a substantial level of energy independence and an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita from electricity generation, since over 80% of its electricity is from nuclear or hydro." "an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita" is AFAIK as good as it gets. I'm not sure why/where the energy vs electricity different really matters here. Perhaps you can help me out? Googling for some other numbers, it looks like France's total emissions are 270M tons, with an energy sector emitting 40M tons, even if that energy sector were zero'd out - France would still emit 230M tons of GHG. *Low carbon != zero carbon output. This resource shows nuclear as being a very low carbon source of electricity, akin to wind and solar (and even less than geothermal, all quite surprising to me): https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/how-can-nuclear-combat-climate-change.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/how-can-nuclear... I think I might be extra sensitive to the phrase "GHG neutral", I believe that phrase is very often 100% PR and 0% reality.

whimsicalism 3y ago

Energy != electricity That said, what I probably should have said is the capability to go GHG neutral. I believe that France has more domestic nuclear capacity than its domestic electrical conception.

seadan83 3y ago
This is a good resource looking at the energy capacity of france: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profiles/countries-a-f/france.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/country-profil... This resource describes France's nuclear sector as aging: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55259 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=55259. Between those two, it's not obvious to me that France could enable more nuclear capacity to account for the rest of their energy needs. I'm not sure I would even agree that GHG neutral is even a thing. Just because a person plants 1000 trees to account for emitting 10 tons of carbon today, the 10 tons of carbon were still emitted today while those trees need decades to even get close to break-even (and in the meantime they can burn, contribute to mono-cultures, possible not grow at all, be double sold as offsets, etc..) More concretely, I think it's like calling a Geothermal plant GHG neutral if it powers a facility that pulls down as much carbon as the thermal plant emits. As an aggregate, there is actually a true net zero there, but the thermal plant is still a positive contributor to emissions.* The first resource linked earlier states it pretty well: "As a result of the 1974 decision, France now claims a substantial level of energy independence and an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita from electricity generation, since over 80% of its electricity is from nuclear or hydro." "an extremely low level of carbon dioxide emissions per capita" is AFAIK as good as it gets. I'm not sure why/where the energy vs electricity different really matters here. Perhaps you can help me out? Googling for some other numbers, it looks like France's total emissions are 270M tons, with an energy sector emitting 40M tons, even if that energy sector were zero'd out - France would still emit 230M tons of GHG. *Low carbon != zero carbon output. This resource shows nuclear as being a very low carbon source of electricity, akin to wind and solar (and even less than geothermal, all quite surprising to me): https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/how-can-nuclear-combat-climate-change.aspx https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/how-can-nuclear... I think I might be extra sensitive to the phrase "GHG neutral", I believe that phrase is very often 100% PR and 0% reality.