New YouTube Energy Facts this week!!

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel@

Greener Today Inc

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear power generates 15 percent of the world’s electricity and approximately 20 percent in the United States.

Fifteen countries rely on nuclear power for at least a quarter of their electricity and France obtains more than 70 percent of its electricity needs from nuclear.

Worldwide, 439 nuclear reactors currently operate, with 61 more under construction, mostly in Asia and Europe. Additionally, more than 300 units are planned or have been proposed.

Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear energy does not create potentially harmful greenhouse gases. If all the nuclear plants operating worldwide were replaced with fossil-fuel fired plants, as much as 500 million more tons of carbon dioxide would be emitted into the atmosphere each year. Using nuclear is the equivalent of taking about 60 million cars off the road.

Rapidly increasing global demand for electricity will make nuclear an increasingly important source of energy in coming years. For example, China expects its need for electricity to quadruple in the next 20 years. Meeting this demand without causing extensive air pollution will require expanded use of nuclear power.

Nuclear power plants produce Clean, Reliable and Affordable electricity. 

Nuclear energy produces electricity for one in five homes and businesses across the United States, with 104 reactors in 31 states.  The country's largest source of carbon-free electricity is Nuclear Energy.

Nuclear power plants help mitigate climate change because they Do Not produce greenhouse gases while generating electricity.

Nuclear Power Plants Do Not Burn Anything

Nuclear power plants Do Not burn anything, so they produce no combustion byproducts.  Nuclear plants help protect our air quality and have been an important tool in meeting Clean Air Act goals in many states.

The United States needs abundant electricity and clean air

According to the Energy Information Administration's 2008 forecast- the United States will need all new sources of generation available: Renewables, Natural Gas, Coal and Nuclear Energy.  Nuclear Energy is the only large-scale,  emission-free energy source that can be widely expanded.

Nuclear power has a lower production cost than coal or natural gas, so it helps reduce the price of electricity for consumers.  Electricity generated from nuclear power also has tremendous forward Price Stability because only about one-quarter of production costs are fuel costs.

In six states, Nuclear energy makes up the largest percentage of electricity production: These include Vermont (74%), New Jersey (51%), South Carolina (51%), Connecticut(49%), Illinois (48%) and New Hampshire(46%).

Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels are coal, oil, and natural gas- currently provide more than 85 percent of all the energy consumed in the United States, nearly two-thirds of our electricity, and virtually all of our transportation fuels.

They are called fossil fuels because they're created when long-dead plants and animals are turned into fuel after lying under the Earth's crust for millions of years.

Fossil Fuels are responsible for 98 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States. C02 is a key cause of global warming.

At Issue: Fossil Fuels are finite resources.  Unlike renewable energy, they cannot be replenished or renewed once they are extracted from the earth. The EPA describes renewables as fuels that are "continuously replenished on the Earth."(We don't have to worry about running out of them).

Moreover, it is likely that the nation's reliance on fossil fuels to power an expanding economy will actually increase over at least the two decades even with aggressive development and deployment of new renewable and nuclear technologies according to the United States Department of Energy

At Issue: Coal is used to generate about half of the country's electricity.  The United States has the world's largest known coal reserves, enough to last a century maybe more. Coal is the worst if you're worried about global warming, it is the most dangerous.  Burning it releases 25 percent more carbon dioxide than petroleum and twice as much as natural gas.

Some experts say there are ways to burn coal without releasing carbon dioxide...

Political Adviser & Authors Speaks:

"When many people hear the term"green" today, they still automatically think the message is probably for a fancy, eco-elite set--and not for themselves.  And as long as that remain true, the green movement will remain too anemic politically and too alien culturally to rescue the country"  -Van Jones

"Because in a world that is hot, flat, and crowded- where energy, water, land, natural resources, and energy resources are all being stressed- everybody, in time, is going to be forced to pay the true cost of the energy they are using, the true cost of the climate change they are causing, the true cost of the biodiversity loss they are triggering, the true cost of the petrodictatorship they are funding, and the true cost of the energy poverty they are sustaining" - Thomas L. Friedman

"Our environmental savings account is empty.  It is not pay now or pay later.  It is pay now, or there will be no later" - Andrew Shapiro