IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/rensus/v22y2013icp187-197.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Renewable energy and nuclear power towards sustainable development: Characteristics and prospects

Author

Listed:
  • Karakosta, Charikleia
  • Pappas, Charalampos
  • Marinakis, Vangelis
  • Psarras, John

Abstract

Today there are several opportunities for Renewable Energy Sources (RES), as well as for nuclear technologies to contribute to mitigating climate change and to promote sustainable development (SD). In this framework, the main scope of the present study is to provide an analysis and a direct point-to-point comparison of five promising renewable energy technologies, namely, biomass gasification, molten carbonate fuel cells fed with wood gas, Solar Photovoltaics (PV), solar thermal and offshore wind, in contrast to two advanced nuclear technologies, European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) and European Fast Reactor (EFR). The examination was made with regards to technology characteristics, sustainability factors and potential deployment drivers and barriers, obtained from relative studies. The analysis indicated that the examined RES and nuclear technologies both offer substantial contribution to climate change by effectively producing limited amounts of GHG emissions, which are close to zero for the nuclear technologies. The RES produce no significant waste and are generally favored by policy incentives, but some of them are plagued by high production costs and low efficiency. On the contrary, the examined nuclear technologies, despite their enhanced safety, reduced costs and minimized waste, still have to face the major issues of weapons proliferation, safety, waste handling and high costs as well as public acceptance, which have been affected by the recent Fukushima accident.

Suggested Citation

  • Karakosta, Charikleia & Pappas, Charalampos & Marinakis, Vangelis & Psarras, John, 2013. "Renewable energy and nuclear power towards sustainable development: Characteristics and prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 187-197.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:22:y:2013:i:c:p:187-197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2013.01.035
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136403211300066X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.rser.2013.01.035?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fthenakis, Vasilis M. & Kim, Hyung Chul, 2007. "Greenhouse-gas emissions from solar electric- and nuclear power: A life-cycle study," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 2549-2557, April.
    2. Adamantiades, A. & Kessides, I., 2009. "Nuclear power for sustainable development: Current status and future prospects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5149-5166, December.
    3. Vaillancourt, Kathleen & Labriet, Maryse & Loulou, Richard & Waaub, Jean-Philippe, 2008. "The role of nuclear energy in long-term climate scenarios: An analysis with the World-TIMES model," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 2296-2307, July.
    4. Shrestha, Ram M. & Timilsina, Govinda R., 2002. "The additionality criterion for identifying clean development mechanism projects under the Kyoto Protocol," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 73-79, January.
    5. Marktanner, Marcus & Salman, Lana, 2011. "Economic and geopolitical dimensions of renewable vs. nuclear energy in North Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 4479-4489, August.
    6. de Almeida, Pedro & Silva, Pedro D., 2009. "The peak of oil production--Timings and market recognition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1267-1276, April.
    7. Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "CO2 emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in the US," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 2911-2915, June.
    8. Tobias Wiesenthal & Guillaume Leduc & Hans-Gunther Schwarz & Karel Haegeman, 2009. "RandD Investment in the Priority Technologies of the European Strategic Energy Technology Plan," JRC Research Reports JRC52225, Joint Research Centre.
    9. Verbruggen, Aviel, 2008. "Renewable and nuclear power: A common future?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 4036-4047, November.
    10. Bilgili, Mehmet & Yasar, Abdulkadir & Simsek, Erdogan, 2011. "Offshore wind power development in Europe and its comparison with onshore counterpart," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 905-915, February.
    11. Sovacool, Benjamin K., 2008. "Valuing the greenhouse gas emissions from nuclear power: A critical survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2940-2953, August.
    12. Varun & Bhat, I.K. & Prakash, Ravi, 2009. "LCA of renewable energy for electricity generation systems--A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(5), pages 1067-1073, June.
    13. Esteban, M. Dolores & Diez, J. Javier & López, Jose S. & Negro, Vicente, 2011. "Why offshore wind energy?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 444-450.
    14. Supersberger, Nikolaus & Führer, Laura, 2011. "Integration of renewable energies and nuclear power into North African Energy Systems: An analysis of energy import and export effects," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 4458-4465, August.
    15. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E. & Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "On the causal dynamics between emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2255-2260, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Man-Keun Kim & Kangil Lee, 2015. "Dynamic Interactions between Carbon and Energy Prices in the U.S. Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 5(2), pages 494-501.
    2. Hanan Naser, 2015. "Can Nuclear Energy Stimulates Economic Growth? Evidence from Highly Industrialised Countries," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 5(1), pages 164-173.
    3. Marius Chofor Asaba & Fabian Duffner & Florian Frieden & Jens Leker & Stephan von Delft, 2022. "Location choice for large‐scale battery manufacturing plants: Exploring the role of clean energy, costs, and knowledge on location decisions in Europe," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 26(4), pages 1514-1527, August.
    4. George Halkos & Argyro Zisiadou, 2023. "Energy Crisis Risk Mitigation through Nuclear Power and RES as Alternative Solutions towards Self-Sufficiency," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-29, January.
    5. Segantin, Stefano & Testoni, Raffaella & Zucchetti, Massimo, 2019. "The lifetime determination of ARC reactor as a load-following plant in the energy framework," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 66-75.
    6. Mounir Ben Mbarek & Racha Khairallah & Rochdi Feki, 2015. "Causality relationships between renewable energy, nuclear energy and economic growth in France," Environment Systems and Decisions, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 133-142, March.
    7. Lau, Lin-Sea & Choong, Chee-Keong & Ng, Cheong-Fatt & Liew, Feng-Mei & Ching, Suet-Ling, 2019. "Is nuclear energy clean? Revisit of Environmental Kuznets Curve hypothesis in OECD countries," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 12-20.
    8. Qin Fei & Rajah Rasiah & Leow Jia Shen, 2014. "The Clean Energy-Growth Nexus with CO2 Emissions and Technological Innovation in Norway and New Zealand," Energy & Environment, , vol. 25(8), pages 1323-1344, December.
    9. Apergis, Nicholas & Payne, James E. & Menyah, Kojo & Wolde-Rufael, Yemane, 2010. "On the causal dynamics between emissions, nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(11), pages 2255-2260, September.
    10. AlFarra, Hasan Jamil & Abu-Hijleh, Bassam, 2012. "The potential role of nuclear energy in mitigating CO2 emissions in the United Arab Emirates," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 272-285.
    11. Jones, Christopher R. & Eiser, J. Richard & Gamble, Tim R., 2012. "Assessing the impact of framing on the comparative favourability of nuclear power as an electricity generating option in the UK," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 451-465.
    12. Omri, Anis & Ben Mabrouk, Nejah & Sassi-Tmar, Amel, 2015. "Modeling the causal linkages between nuclear energy, renewable energy and economic growth in developed and developing countries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1012-1022.
    13. Nuortimo, Kalle & Härkönen, Janne & Karvonen, Erkki, 2018. "Exploring the global media image of solar power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 81(P2), pages 2806-2811.
    14. Radovanović, Mirjana & Filipović, Sanja & Pavlović, Dejan, 2017. "Energy security measurement – A sustainable approach," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 68(P2), pages 1020-1032.
    15. Chen, Ping-Yu & Chen, Sheng-Tung & Hsu, Chia-Sheng & Chen, Chi-Chung, 2016. "Modeling the global relationships among economic growth, energy consumption and CO2 emissions," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 420-431.
    16. Anis Omri & Anissa Chaibi, 2014. "Nuclear energy, renewable energy, and economic growth in developed and developing countries : A modelling analysis from simultaneous-equation models," Working Papers 2014-188, Department of Research, Ipag Business School.
    17. Gralla, Fabienne & Abson, David J. & Møller, Anders P. & Lang, Daniel J. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2017. "Energy transitions and national development indicators: A global review of nuclear energy production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1251-1265.
    18. Verbruggen, Aviel & Laes, Erik & Lemmens, Sanne, 2014. "Assessment of the actual sustainability of nuclear fission power," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 16-28.
    19. Tingzhu Li & Debin Du & Xueli Wang & Xionghe Qin, 2022. "Can Nuclear Power Products Mitigate Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Evidence from Global Trade Network," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-25, June.
    20. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Chiu, Yi-Bin, 2011. "Oil prices, nuclear energy consumption, and economic growth: New evidence using a heterogeneous panel analysis," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 2111-2120, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:rensus:v:22:y:2013:i:c:p:187-197. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/600126/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.