I have tried to retrieve information on the actual construction costs of nuclear and thermal power plants and the amount of energy they in average produce per year and to compare them with the costs for up-to-date state house isolations and the Amount of Energy which in average can be saved per year.
The result of this simple comparison was at the first look surprising to me. If the amount of money necessary to construct a power plant would be invested to isolate houses, only 1/10 of the Energy, which would be produced with the power plant, would be saved by the isolation.
Honestly I was a bit disappointed by the result and I found it quite amazing that such sophisticated technology like a nuclear power plant could have such a big advantage in the cost-benefit ratio compared to a quite simple straightforward technology.
But of course there are factors to be considered, which have just not been considered in the comparison and which would probably are in favour to the simpler technology of isolation:
- Maintenance Costs
- CO2 equivalent effort
- Resource consumption on the long term
- Effort for guaranteeing the safety of the technology
- Effective Costs of possible environmental damage due to error in the technology
Especially the last point is difficult to compare as the costs in case of an incident at an nuclear power plant would be very high due to it’s long term impact (long term radio active contamination due to an hazardous incident radioactivity or due to a inadequate final storage).
Let me know what you think!
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Below the actual numbers of the comparison and the links, from where I retrieved the information:
1) Construction Costs and Energy Production of Power Plants
Power Plant Construction Costs Energy Production per year
Gundremmingen DE (nuclear) ~4.0 Mrd € (4*10^9 €) ~20 TWh (20*10^12 Watt Hours)
Lippendorf DE (thermal) ~2.3 Mrd € (2.3*10^9 €) ~13 TWh
2) Example Costs for House Isolations and Amount of saved Energy
Isolation Costs for a house with of 160m^2 surface ~29.000 €
Saved Energy per year 103 kWh/m^2 * 160 ~> 16.500 kWh
3) Calculations
a) 4*10^9 / 29.000 € => 138.000 Houses with 160 m^2 could be isolated.
b) 138.000 * 16.500 kWh => 2.2 TWh Energy saved by the isolation
Links:
Bedeutung von Kern- und Fusionskraftwerken
Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen
Energiesparen im Haushalt
The result of this simple comparison was at the first look surprising to me. If the amount of money necessary to construct a power plant would be invested to isolate houses, only 1/10 of the Energy, which would be produced with the power plant, would be saved by the isolation.
Honestly I was a bit disappointed by the result and I found it quite amazing that such sophisticated technology like a nuclear power plant could have such a big advantage in the cost-benefit ratio compared to a quite simple straightforward technology.
But of course there are factors to be considered, which have just not been considered in the comparison and which would probably are in favour to the simpler technology of isolation:
- Maintenance Costs
- CO2 equivalent effort
- Resource consumption on the long term
- Effort for guaranteeing the safety of the technology
- Effective Costs of possible environmental damage due to error in the technology
Especially the last point is difficult to compare as the costs in case of an incident at an nuclear power plant would be very high due to it’s long term impact (long term radio active contamination due to an hazardous incident radioactivity or due to a inadequate final storage).
Let me know what you think!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Below the actual numbers of the comparison and the links, from where I retrieved the information:
1) Construction Costs and Energy Production of Power Plants
Power Plant Construction Costs Energy Production per year
Gundremmingen DE (nuclear) ~4.0 Mrd € (4*10^9 €) ~20 TWh (20*10^12 Watt Hours)
Lippendorf DE (thermal) ~2.3 Mrd € (2.3*10^9 €) ~13 TWh
2) Example Costs for House Isolations and Amount of saved Energy
Isolation Costs for a house with of 160m^2 surface ~29.000 €
Saved Energy per year 103 kWh/m^2 * 160 ~> 16.500 kWh
3) Calculations
a) 4*10^9 / 29.000 € => 138.000 Houses with 160 m^2 could be isolated.
b) 138.000 * 16.500 kWh => 2.2 TWh Energy saved by the isolation
Links:
Bedeutung von Kern- und Fusionskraftwerken
Kernkraftwerk Gundremmingen
Energiesparen im Haushalt
1 comment:
as far as tangible cost-benefit values are concerned, i think your numbers speak for themselves and are based on sound assumptions. The benefit of the isolation lies mainly on the environment impact, that it does not involve risk of nuclear catastrophe or contaminations, and does not involve having to dispose of nuclear waste. Another advantage in economical terms may be that isolation gives work to more people and involves more local resources, than contracting a plant to foreign consortiums... but the ratio of 1-10 is a bit overwhelming... what about in comparison to other energy sources?
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