A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology

7. Climate Crisis

Key to the position of commercial nuclear energy in the twenty-first century will be the issue of global climate change. James Lovelock warns the world that attempts at sustainability are insufficient and that the world must mobilize all its technological and intellectual resources to combat the threat (Lovelock 2006). Society must balance its nuclear fears against the prospect of devastation from global warming. Nuclear energy has the potential not only to contribute to the decarbonization of our electricity system, but also, perhaps via a move to a hydrogen economy, to help tackle the more difficult challenge – how to decarbonize our transport system.