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A “Grammar” for assessing the performance of power-supply systems: Comparing nuclear energy to fossil energy

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  • Diaz-Maurin, François
  • Giampietro, Mario

Abstract

This article illustrates an innovative approach for the characterization and comparison of the performance of power-supply systems. The concept of ‘grammar’ forces to declare the pre-analytical decisions about: (i) semantic and formal categories used for the accounting – primary energy sources (PES), energy carriers (EC), and production factors; (ii) the set of functional and structural elements of the power-supply system included in the analysis. After having tamed the systemic ambiguity associated with energy accounting, it becomes possible to generate a double assessment referring to: (i) external constraints – the consumption of PES and the generation of waste and pollution; and (ii) internal constraints – the requirements of production factors such as human labor, power capacity, internal consumption of EC for making EC. The case study provided compares the production of EC (electricity) with “nuclear energy” and “fossil energy”. When considering internal constraints, nuclear energy requires about twice as much power capacity (5.9–9.5 kW/GWh vs. 2.6–2.9 kW/GWh) and 5–8 times more labor (570–640 h/GWh vs. 80–115 h/GWh). Things do not improve for nuclear energy when looking at external constraints – e.g. the relative scarcity of PES. This may explain the difficulties faced by nuclear energy to gain interest from investors.

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  • Diaz-Maurin, François & Giampietro, Mario, 2013. "A “Grammar” for assessing the performance of power-supply systems: Comparing nuclear energy to fossil energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 162-177.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:49:y:2013:i:c:p:162-177
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2012.11.014
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. François Diaz-Maurin & Rodney C. Ewing, 2018. "Mission Impossible? Socio-Technical Integration of Nuclear Waste Geological Disposal Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-39, November.
    2. Parra, Rony & Di Felice, Louisa Jane & Giampietro, Mario & Ramos-Martin, Jesus, 2018. "The metabolism of oil extraction: A bottom-up approach applied to the case of Ecuador," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 63-74.
    3. Shakouri G., H. & Aliakbarisani, S., 2016. "At what valuation of sustainability can we abandon fossil fuels? A comprehensive multistage decision support model for electricity planning," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 60-77.
    4. Pérez-Sánchez, Laura & Velasco-Fernández, Raúl & Giampietro, Mario, 2021. "The international division of labor and embodied working time in trade for the US, the EU and China," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    5. Di Felice, Louisa Jane & Ripa, Maddalena & Giampietro, Mario, 2019. "An alternative to market-oriented energy models: Nexus patterns across hierarchical levels," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 431-443.
    6. Raul F. C. Miranda & Carolina Grottera & Mario Giampietro, 2016. "Understanding slums: analysis of the metabolic pattern of the Vidigal favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1297-1322, October.
    7. González-López, Rafael & Giampietro, Mario, 2018. "Relational analysis of the oil and gas sector of Mexico: Implications for Mexico's energy reform," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 403-414.
    8. Zora Kovacic & Marcello Spanò & Samuele Lo Piano & Alevgul H. Sorman, 2018. "Finance, energy and the decoupling: an empirical study," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 565-590, August.
    9. Lo Piano, Samuele & Mayumi, Kozo, 2017. "Toward an integrated assessment of the performance of photovoltaic power stations for electricity generation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(P2), pages 167-174.
    10. Cartelle Barros, Juan José & Lara Coira, Manuel & de la Cruz López, María Pilar & del Caño Gochi, Alfredo, 2015. "Assessing the global sustainability of different electricity generation systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 473-489.

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