Energy has been on my mind lately…specifically, every time I roll up to the gas station in the family RAV and drop a few twenties on a tank of gas. I’m not the only one that’s been thinking like this. I know this because I’ve made gas-station friends with people filling up at the pump next to me as we both commiserate over the hard-won currency being hosed into our combustion-driven transportation devices. Some of you are smirking at me right now as your shiny EVs hum away, charging in your garages…I’ll get there someday.

But, frankly, I am not going to experience the worst of the energy crisis. Europe is. They have, by far, shouldered the brunt of the repercussions of the energy sanctions against Russia. The crisis in Europe is bad enough it’s led to unexpected shifts in opinion from some of the most hardliner green energy promoters.

This is the tagline of the European Green Party (EGP). The EGP has been against nuclear energy for decades. Yet, despite this, there has been some talk within the German Green Party about temporarily reevaluating this stance in order to keep three nuclear plants in the country running. Each plant is scheduled for decommission at the end of the year, but with the current energy crisis, keeping these plants open may have just moved from the “abhorrent” category to the “absolutely necessary” category.

My initial reaction to this flip-flopping - being someone not against the near-term continuation of nuclear energy production - was “Haha…the irony! They’re finally speaking some sense.” But then I realized that more than anything, this move increased my respect for their efforts. I respect the Green Party. They have been fighting on behalf of the Earth (and our future) for a long, long time. To agree to set aside their crusade against nuclear energy to reduce individual suffering during the coming winter is no easy decision.

That momentary shift in my perspective also gave me space to reconsider the question: should nuclear energy continue to be a thing?

(If you’re getting tired of this and really just need to get to the next Rings of Power episode, my answer is yes. If you’re someone who has prioritized their life correctly and has already seen every episode, read on, you’ve got nothing better to do)

The very first nuclear power plant was connected to the grid in 1954 and was so utilitarian looking you’d think it could only have been built in Soviet Russia…and…oh wait, yes it was. If I’d been an environmentalist in the 1950’s it’d only have taken one look for me to know I was against whatever that things was.

The plant had a capacity of 6 Megawatts(MW), meaning that if it were to produce at maximum capacity every hour of the year, it would produce 52,560 megawatt hours (MWh). In 2020, the average US household used roughly 11 MWh over the course of a year. So, this plant produced enough power to provide energy for about 4,800 modern US homes. However, seeing that this plant opened shop the same year as McDonalds, houses probably used a tad less energy.

Jumping to today, the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, located on the coast of California, produces 18,000 gigawatt hours (GWh). A GWh is 1,000 MWhs, in case anyone was wondering. That’s a lot more than the first nuclear plant. It’s hard to express how much more…just know it’s a lot more.

This one single plant (Diablo Canyon) is able to produce 9% of all of the state of California’s energy (the most populous state in the US). And it does all of this without any carbon emissions. Until recently, the plant was set to close in 2025. Now, it is open another 4 years and some are hoping longer than that. If it were to stay open until 2035, it would cut California greenhouse emissions by 10% and would save $2.6 billion in electricity costs.

Across the world, the mood around nuclear energy has shifted. If different energy sources were a group of friends, we all just realized that nuclear energy has a boat…and despite previously kicking nuclear out of the friend group on account of always being late, we all want to go boating. So we’re inviting them back into the group (at least until solar energy gets a boat).

Japan, Germany, California…in each of these places, and others, people are turning back to nuclear energy, and much of the push is being led by environmentalists who see nuclear as the only high-energy producing, reliable form of clean energy.

Let me be clear. Nuclear isn’t renewable energy. Uranium is finite and someday we will run out of it. However, using it to create energy doesn’t produce greenhouse gases. That’s a big plus. And with climate change rearing up to crash this year’s Christmas party (and maybe the next 40), we need to take actions that can make sizeable differences.

What do I think about nuclear? Well, after having studied out our current position, and in the light of climate change, I see it as a very viable source of clean energy and hope it can be accepted more widely. I know I know, but what about Chernoble or Fukushima. Well, the facts are that nuclear energy is (and has been) a safer form of energy production than coal, natural gas, oil, biomass, hydropower, and wind. It only gets beat out by solar. Below is a nice graphic that illustrates both the safety and greenhouse gas emissions of various energy sources. This article includes a deeper dive into the infographics numbers and how they were found.

So, despite our reservations, it’s time for us to reconsider increasing nuclear energy production.

I’ve been really into science fiction books the last couple years, not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s the futuristic technology. Maybe it’s the complex scientific problems. Maybe it’s the exploration of unknown spaces and places and ideas. Likely, it’s just that they have some of the cooler book covers.

Here’s a quick rundown of a few of the most recent ones:

First, I’ve loved and would recommend every single one of these books. They are all fantastic in their own right. Please read all of them.

I feel that sci-fi has gotten a bad wrap as a literary lightweight. It sits a couple steps above romance but definitely well below historical fiction. Most people would probably rate it a step or two below fantasy as well, thanks to the massive success of writers like C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and J. K. Rowling.

But science fiction does something else that I feel no other genre does as well: it predicts. Hard science fiction - science fiction that is based within the rules of real science - puts you into near futures and worlds that seem plausible. They often predict future tech, government relations, environmental disasters or wars. Soft science fiction - science fiction that may be a little more fantastical - shows distant futures that may or may not be possible but that force us to think about ourselves now and what decisions we’re making that could cause that.

Fantasy helps us escape. Historical fiction helps us understand our past. Contemporary fiction often points out positives or negatives of our current society.

Science fiction expands our minds into the future and, when taken seriously and done well, makes us think about our lives and the actions we’re taking today with the question, “what world will this create?” firmly planted in our minds. Let’s also not forget all the awesome tech and space battles and alien encounters…top notch stuff.