With the second round of the Democratic presidential debates this week, many left-leaning voters are eager to see if climate issues will garner more attention than they did in June, when audiences were left disappointed with the lack of focus on the environment.
But even a whole night focused on climate policy — and CNN plans to host one in September, they announced Thursday — wouldn’t change the fact that the renewable energy sources that the left touts (wind, solar and batteries) can take us only so far. Wind and solar are inherently unreliable, and batteries cost too much and store too little energy to make up for it.
If the candidates are unwilling to bring nuclear power into the national conversation, then they’re not taking seriously their party’s requests for decarbonization. Conversation is the key word here, because the greatest obstacle blocking nuclear power isn’t safety issues or technological shortcomings — it’s bad PR and political grandstanding.
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Jonathan A. Lesser, PhD, is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute, president of Continental Economics consulting, and author of the new report, “Is There a Future for Nuclear Power in the United States?”
This piece originally appeared in Chicago Tribune