Primary Energy Sources at the Heart of the Matter

Fuels

We cannot create new energy (energy rule 1). We can only use the energy that was created when the universe formed approximately 14 billion years ago. The amount of energy in the universe is vast, but only a small fraction is available for o ur use. Fortunately, we have a lot of energy resources we can tap into. The primary energy sources are derived from: the sun, the earth s heat, the wind, water (rivers, lakes, tides, and oceans), fossil fuels - coal, oil, a nd natural gas, biomass, and radioactive minerals. Some other primary forms of e nergy, such as the earth s magnetic field, lightning, and sound, are not listed, a s they are not useful sources of energy for doing work. Most of the primary forms of energy are not directly useful to us. Fuels we use every day, electricity and gasoline for example, are not listed. These are secon dary forms of energy, also known as energy carriers, and they need to be made us ing these primary energy sources. Even natural gas, commonly used to heat our ho mes and cook our meals, needs some processing before it can be used as a fuel fo r your home. Secondary energy sources will be explored in the next section. Although nuclear power is considered a low carbon power generation source, its l egal inclusion with renewable energy power sources has been the subject of debat e. Statutory and scientific definitions of renewable energies usually exclude nu clear energy. Commonly sourced definitions of renewable energy sources often omi t or explicitly exclude nuclear energy sources as examples. Nuclear fission is not regarded as renewable by the U.S. Department of Energy. The American Petroleum Institute does not consider conventional nuclear fission as renewable, but states that nuclear fission in breeder reactors is considered sustainable and renewable

Attempts to define nuclear pow er as renewable Conventional nuclear power uses uranium as its source of fuel. Uranium is a nonr enewable resource and when used at present rates would eventually be exhausted. Nuclear power involving breeder reactors, which create more fissile isotopes tha n they consume during their operation, has a stronger case for being considered a renewable resource. Such reactors would constantly replenish the available sup ply of nuclear fuel by converting fertile materials, such as uranium-238 and tho rium, into plutonium or uranium-233, respectively. Fertile materials are also no nrenewable, but their supply on Earth is extremely large, so the situation is si milar to geothermal power. In a closed fuel cycle utilizing breeder reactors, nu clear fuel could therefore be considered renewable. Physicist Bernard Cohen clai ms that fast breeder reactors, fueled by uranium extracted from seawater, could supply energy at least as long as the sun's expected remaining lifespan of five billion years. Uranium dissolved in seawater could also be considered a renewable resource, bec ause it is constantly replenished by rivers eroding the Earth's crust at a rate of 6500 tonnes per year In 1983, Bernard Cohen proposed that the uranium in the crust is effectively inexhaustible, and could therefore be considered a renewabl e source of energy

Notable people and speeches Nuclear energy has been referred to as "renewable" by the politicians George W. Bush,Charlie Crist, and David Sainsbury.Bush has said of nuclear power: "Nuclear power is safe and nuclear power is clean and nuclear power is renewable".