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| Thank you everyone who responded to this survey. Much appreciated! |
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| If we take capacity factor as the measure of reliability, nuclear and geothermal lead with about 95%. Note: capacity factor is the percentage of time annually that a power plant is actually producing electrical power. |
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| All of the fuel energy sources (coal, gas, nuclear) are ultimately supply-limited on the century scale. Solar, wind and geothermal are unlimited, but rare earth elements in solar and recycle/wildlife issues with wind make them less environmentally sustainable than geothermal. If you think hydro is environmentally benign, talk to a wildlife biologist or read this. |
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| This one is a bit subjective depending on the humans being considered: consumers, those living near power plants, those mining minerals necessary for energy production? |
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| The US Energy Information Administration predicts 2050 generation as 44% renewables, 34% natural gas, 12% nuclear, and 10% coal. In order of dominance, their 2050 scenario for renewables is solar, wind, hydro, geothermal. |
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| This depends on several factors including which government incentives are included, whether coal and gas include carbon capture technology, etc. Nuclear reactivation has a relatively low cost, but new build is one of the highest. The Visual Capitalist take on this question is shown below. |
