An energetic exchange on the costs of decarbonizing Europe

Lillgrund Wind Farm in Sweden (Photo by Tomasz Sienicki/Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0) 

In the November 2021 issue of the Bulletin magazine, “How to make the renewables revolution a reality,” Robert Rosner and Sabrina Fields considered the cost competitiveness of nuclear energy in decarbonized grids. Their analysis drew in part on data published in 2014 or earlier. Since then, the cost of renewable energy has fallen significantly relative to nuclear, prompting Amory Lovins to write the following letter to the editor pointing out the pitfalls of judging new energy sources by old data.