Comparison of cost efficiencies of nuclear power and renewable energy generation in mitigating CO 2 emissions
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Comparison of cost efficiencies of nuclear power and renewable energy generation in mitigating CO2 emissions Hyun Seok Kim 1 Received: 24 May 2020 / Accepted: 16 August 2020 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The objective of this study is to compare the cost efficiencies of nuclear power and renewable energy generation in reducing CO2 emissions. To achieve this objective, we estimate the relationship between CO2 emissions and both nuclear power and renewable energy generation in 16 major nuclear power–generating countries, and compare the costs of both energy generation methods in reducing CO2 emissions by the same amount. The results show that, to reduce CO2 emissions by 1%, nuclear power and renewable energy generation should be increased by 2.907% and 4.902%, respectively. This implies that if the current amount of electricity generation is one megawatt-hour, the cost of mitigating CO2 emissions by 1% is $3.044 for nuclear power generation and $7.097 for renewable energy generation. That is, the total generation costs are approximately $1.70 billion for the nuclear power and $3.97 billion for renewable energy to mitigate 1% of CO2 emissions at the average amount of electricity generation of 0.56 billion MWh in 2014 in the sample countries. Hence, we can conclude that nuclear power generation is more cost-efficient than is renewable energy generation in mitigating CO2 emissions, even with the external costs of accidents and health impact risks associated with nuclear power generation. Keywords CO2 emissions . Cost efficiency . External costs . Generation costs . Nuclear power . Renewable energy
Introduction According to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2013), CO2 emitted from burning fossil fuels to generate electricity is regarded as the main factor contributing to global warming and climate change. Hence, to reduce CO2 emissions, the source of electricity generation in developed countries has recently been shifting from burning fossil fuels to either low or no carbon sources such as renewable energy or nuclear power. There is no doubt that renewable energy generation plays an important role in mitigating CO2 emissions. Additionally, many recent empirical studies have shown that an increase in the use of renewable energy reduces CO2 emissions (Shafiei and Salim 2014; Dogan and Seker 2016; Zoundi 2017)
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues * Hyun Seok Kim [email protected] 1
Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826, Korea
Nuclear power generation is also a good substitute for fossil fuel to meet energy needs and reduce CO2 emissions, even with economic growth. Accordingly, many researchers have assessed the partial effect of economic growth and nuclear power generation on environmental quality. The results of most studies show the existence of a negative relationship between nuclear power generation and CO2 emissions; in that, an increase in nuclear power generation reduces CO
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