Energy expert Brian Gitt said energy is a matter of national security in a recent article.
He said that any nation that is dependent on another country for its energy needs is placing itself in a dangerous situation.
"It’s time to be honest about all the costs and benefits of every energy source," Gitt said.
Gitt also discussed the importance of reliability, affordability, versatility and scalability as a way of evaluating the best energy source. He compared renewable energy sources to these standards, and asserted that there are better options to meet these requirements. Gitt also discussed emissions, land use and lifespan as areas that deserve to receive thought.
He asserted that nuclear is the most competitive option in each of these categories, referencing research that shows nuclear plants use 75 times less land than solar and 360 times less land than wind farms and outlast solar and wind components by 60 to 80 years. While not stated in Gitt's article, there is a human price to the renewable energy push that is taking place around the world, according to Sheffield Hallam University.
Solar parts from China have been connected to forced Uyghur labor. Sheffield Hallam University, a public research organization located in the United Kingdom, put out research that linked the suppressed Uyghur population to the global solar panel supply. According to the report, Uyghurs forced into labor in China help create 45% of the world’s solar-grade polysilicon, which 95% of solar modules use.
According to the same study, each polysilicon producer in the Uyghur Region has reported participation in the “labour transfer programmes and/or are supplied by raw materials companies that have.” The labor transfers laid out in the report are involuntary and accomplished through “unprecedented coercion.” The research showed 90 Chinese and global companies whose supply chains are connected and thus would be impacted by the realization that the Chinese products are created by utilizing slave labor.
The Department of Commerce is at present investigating solar imports from Asian nations after a complaint asserted that the Chinese were funneling imports through Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia to avoid U.S. tariffs first put into force by former President Barack Obama, according to Commerce Newswire.