Debate over the use of Renewable energy Ausubel of Rockefeller University in New York, US. says the key renewable energy sources, including sun, wind and biofuels, would all require vast 1 of land if developed up to large scale production1unlike nuclear power. That land would be far better left alone2, he says. Renewables look attractive when they are quite 2 . But if we start producing renewable energy on a large scale, the fallout is going to be horrible. Instead, Ausubel argues 3 renewed development of nuclear. Ausubel draws his conclusions by analysing the amount of energy renewables, natural gas and nuclear can produce in terms of power per square metre of land used3. Moreover, he claims that as renewable energy use increases, this measure of efficiency4 will 4 as the best land for wind, biofuels, and solar power gets used up. Using biofuels to obtain the 5 amount of energy as a 1000 megawatt nuclear power plant would require 2500 square kilometres of farm 6 , Ausubel says. We should be sparing land for nature5, not using it as pasture for cars and trucks, he adds. Solar power is much more efficient than biofuel in terms of the area of land 7 , but it would still require 150 square kilometres of photovoltaic cells to 8 the energy production of the 1000 MW nuclear plant. In another example, he says meeting the 2005 US electricity demand via wind power alone would need 780,000 square kilometres, an area the size of Texas. |