Comparison of Resource Intensities and Operational Parameters of Renewable, Fossil Fuel, and Nuclear Power Systems

Abstract

Depletion of fossil, their associated thermal emission, and fear of global warming, have been exerting unparallel momentum to tap on natural energy resources. At the current state however some of these resources are associated with large capital, low capacity, large overall carbon footprint that we need to be aware off to make a judicial decision. A comparison study between renewable, fossil fuel and nuclear PowerSystems is presented in this work. The comparison includes the resource intensity, operational parameters and current status. The results show that the renewable power systems such as hydro power, tidal power (barrage), offshore wind power, and wave power utilize more materials during the construction than the conventional (coal, natural gas) and nuclear power systems the renewable energy systems require greater surface area reaches 50 to 150 times the conventional and nuclear power systems except geothermal power plant the renewable hydro-power system has the highest energy and CO2 intensities during the construction of the power plant solar power system has the highest capital intensity compared to all power systems as it requires more capital and energy to construct the same nominal generating capacity the system efficiency of solar power is only 10% to 18% compared to 30-50 % for conventional and nuclear power systems and the capacity factor for solar power is as low as 10% compared to 80% for conventional power system. Still, - most of the renewable power systems have low-capacity factor except the geothermal power that offers up to 95%.