Energy
The History of Solar Energy, Going Back to 4,000 B.C.
Harvesting the power of the sun has been a human endeavor since the beginning of civilization.
After all, the sun puts out 3.8 x 10^26 watts of power, and NASA scientists estimate that even capturing 0.0001% of what hits the earth would be enough to service all of our current energy needs.
Today, we’re obviously not there – but we’re making substantial progress. Solar cells are cheaper than ever before, and solar is finally getting queued up as a part of the future energy supply mix.
The History of Solar Energy
Today’s infographic comes from SolarTech, and it details the history of solar energy from all the way back to 4,000 B.C.
While solar only makes up a tiny portion of the overall energy mix today, there’s no doubt that future skylines will be dotted with many more photovoltaic panels.
The EIA pegs solar’s growth at a CAGR of 39% between 2013-2017 in the United States.
Energy
How Much Does the U.S. Depend on Russian Uranium?
Currently, Russia is the largest foreign supplier of nuclear power fuel to the U.S.
How Much Does the U.S. Depend on Russian Uranium?
This was originally posted on Elements. Sign up to the free mailing list to get beautiful visualizations on natural resource megatrends in your email.
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a ban on imports of Russian uranium. The bill must pass the Senate before becoming law.
In this graphic, we visualize how much the U.S. relies on Russian uranium, based on data from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA).
U.S. Suppliers of Enriched Uranium
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russian-produced oil and gas—yet Russian-enriched uranium is still being imported.
Currently, Russia is the largest foreign supplier of nuclear power fuel to the United States. In 2022, Russia supplied almost a quarter of the enriched uranium used to fuel America’s fleet of more than 90 commercial reactors.
Country of enrichment service | SWU | % |
---|---|---|
🇺🇸 United States | 3,876 | 27.34% |
🇷🇺 Russia | 3,409 | 24.04% |
🇩🇪 Germany | 1,763 | 12.40% |
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 1,593 | 11.23% |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 1,303 | 9.20% |
Other | 2,232 | 15.79% |
Total | 14,176 | 100% |
SWU stands for “Separative Work Unit” in the uranium industry. It is a measure of the amount of work required to separate isotopes of uranium during the enrichment process. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration
Most of the remaining uranium is imported from European countries, while another portion is produced by a British-Dutch-German consortium operating in the United States called Urenco.
Similarly, nearly a dozen countries around the world depend on Russia for more than half of their enriched uranium—and many of them are NATO-allied members and allies of Ukraine.
In 2023 alone, the U.S. nuclear industry paid over $800 million to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom, and its fuel subsidiaries.
It is important to note that 19% of electricity in the U.S. is powered by nuclear plants.
The dependency on Russian fuels dates back to the 1990s when the United States turned away from its own enrichment capabilities in favor of using down-blended stocks of Soviet-era weapons-grade uranium.
As part of the new uranium-ban bill, the Biden administration plans to allocate $2.2 billion for the expansion of uranium enrichment facilities in the United States.
-
Money7 days ago
Visualizing All of the U.S. Currency in Circulation
-
Stocks2 weeks ago
Ranked: South Korea’s Largest Companies by Market Capitalization
-
VC+2 weeks ago
What’s New on VC+ in March?
-
Markets2 weeks ago
Confidence in the Global Economy, by Country
-
Wealth2 weeks ago
Mapped: Where Do the Wealthiest People in the World Live?
-
Misc1 week ago
Ranked: Global Airlines with the Most Plane Crashes
-
Technology1 week ago
Visualizing iPhone 15 Production by Manufacturer in 2023
-
Automotive1 week ago
Visualizing Global Electric Vehicle Sales in 2023, by Market Share