Abstract
Many questionable comparisons are made between renewable energy (RE) sources and conventional energy sources like coal, gas, and nuclear. Both sides of the debate can be guilty of some “sleight of hand” in these comparisons. In this chapter, we look at a few of these sleights along with a few other myths that seem to plaque the renewable energy debate. We take the opportunity in this chapter to introduce the term “capacity credit” and to discuss the raw material needs and land use of various energy options used to generate electricity. We finish by discussing the baseload myth from both sides of the debate.
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- 1.
A nuclear power plant uses about 0.002 m3 of ore per GWh.
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Nicholson, M. (2012). Smoke and Mirrors. In: The Power Makers' Challenge. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2813-7_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-2813-7_11
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