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Video: Preparing For The Energy Needs Of The Future

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We’re living in a time of unprecedented change.

Our snail mail has turned to email. We’ve traded our TVs and radios for Netflix and iTunes. Instead of going to the store down the street, we do our shopping online, and we can even pay with crypto instead of cash.

Our world is transforming, and so is the energy industry.

The Changing Energy Industry

Today’s animation comes to us from California ISO, and it shows the challenges faced by the energy industry as they plan ahead for the energy needs of the future.

As the world grows more environmentally conscious, the energy sector faces new demands:

Environmental

Environmental concerns have brought clean energy systems to center stage, as we look for ways to reduce our dependence on greenhouse gases and preserve our planet for future generations. The push to eliminate fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions means we need to find ways to power coal-dependent sectors with renewable energy.

Technology

As new technologies emerge, they provide us with revolutionary ways to approach energy storage and efficiency, while bringing different types of renewable energies within our reach.

Decentralization

Energy grids have become less centralized over time, as grids move away from power plants in favor of distributed energy sources. Groupings of smaller energy sources are less vulnerable to failure, and provide reliable, cost effective energy options for consumers.

Economics

Economic demands push for competitive pricing and consumer rates, as they impact economic viability and promote healthy investment in the energy sector.

Politics

Renewable energy policies are progressing at the highest levels, as governments around the world set ambitious renewable energy goals for their nation.

Consumer Expectations

Consumers are no longer mere users of electricity, but informed producers. Through rooftop solar energy collection and the development of microgrids, consumers now have the option to gather energy reserves through their own clean energy systems and feed this back into the grid, making a positive impact on their communities.

With all these competing influences, the global energy industry now faces the challenge of creating a system capable of meeting the energy demands of our changing world.

Where to from here?

Planning for the energy needs of the future is no easy task. It’s a challenge to ensure reliable energy provision for consumers, leveraging emerging technology while hedging against disruptive factors like natural disasters which impact energy infrastructure.

There is no single solution, but a network of interconnected solutions working together can improve strengthen green energy provision as our world continues to evolve.

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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.

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Voronoi graphic visualizing U.S. reliance on Russian uranium

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 serviceSWU%
🇺🇸 United States3,87627.34%
🇷🇺 Russia3,40924.04%
🇩🇪 Germany1,76312.40%
🇬🇧 United Kingdom1,59311.23%
🇳🇱 Netherlands1,3039.20%
Other2,23215.79%
Total14,176100%

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.

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