Green Century supports renewable energy sources, despite nuclear power’s resurgence.
As data centers, cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and other energy-guzzlers increase demand for power, nuclear energy is being pitched as a solution.
Data centers already make up roughly 2.5 percent of total U.S. electricity use today, according to analysis from Boston Consulting Group — but exploding demand for artificial intelligence could drive that to 7.5 percent by 2030.
Green Century° remains unabashedly opposed to nuclear power and is unconvinced by arguments that today’s new small modular reactors are safe for people or the environment. Our three mutual funds purposefully exclude fossil fuels because of the associated health and ecological impacts.
Nuclear energy is not clean or safe. Many of us remember the immediate environmental and public health fallouts from the Chernobyl, Fukushima and Three Mile Island disasters. At Chernobyl, about 600 workers at the power plant during the emergency received very high doses of radiation and suffered from radiation sickness. Those who were exposed to the higher amounts of radiation became sick right away and subsequently died.
The hundreds of thousands of people who worked as part of the cleanup crews in the years after the accident faced increased risk of leukemia. Of the approximately 5 million residents of the contaminated areas surrounding, children and adolescents exposed from the Chernobyl accident showed an increased risk of developing thyroid cancer. These “new” small modular reactors. according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, still have potential for failures and are susceptible to the more frequent and intense storms caused by climate change.
Today’s consumers already have safe, clean reliable sources of renewable energy. We don’t need to resort to nuclear power. It’s dangerous and costs more than wind and solar. That’s why Green Century is steadfast in its commitment to avoid investing in nuclear power plants. We believe that any firm representing itself as sustainable or responsible should do the same.
To learn more about avoiding dirty fossil fuels and dangerous nuclear power plants, get our Insuring a Fossil Free Future and our fossil fuel free guide.
–Leslie Samuelrich