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Renewable energy can be used to build more renewable energy

Renewable Breeders (environmentalresearchweb blog), 10 May, 2010, “……………….we will have to replace the existing fossil plants anyway in the years ahead, as they get old and are retired. Moreover, the energy (and carbon) debt from replacing the existing system with renewables should be less that either building more fossil plants, or even than going nuclear e.g. the embedded energy content of wind turbines is low- typically you get around 80 times more energy out over their lifetimes operation than is needed for their construction.

By comparison, according a 2002 Hydro Quebec study, the output from nuclear plants over their lifetime is only around 16 times the energy needed for their construction and for the (energy intensive) production/processing of their fuel……..

the review by Ben Sovacool (Energy Policy 36 (2008) pp2940-2953) suggests that a nuclear system generates about 7 times more CO2 over its lifetimes than wind turbines. However, after the high carbon input phase, the energy for building more renewables can come from these initial renewables. In effect we would then have renewable breeders. There are already some PV powered PV manufacturing plants- solar breeders.

Renewable Breeders (environmentalresearchweb blog) – environmentalresearchweb

May 10, 2010 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, renewable | antinuclear, energy efficiency, renewable energy, solar, wind