What are the advantages of using nuclear energy instead of oil and coal to produce energy?

Answer 1

A handfull of uranium is equivalent to 4000 Tonnes of Coal.

Answer 2

Burning natural gas produces less greenhouse gases than burning oil or using electricity for the same purpose, e.g. heating. And reducing greenhouse gas emissions helps reduce the rate of increase of global warming. * Natural gas (consisting mainly of methane, CH4) contains about four times as many hydrogen atoms H than carbon atoms C. * Oil consists of long chains of carbon hydrates, containing about twice as many H atoms than C atoms. * Electricity is (at present in most industrialized countries to a considerable degree) being produced from burning coal, which contains just C atoms. Furthermore, heating with electricity implies transforming heat into electricity, and then electricity back into heat, and thus means considerable losses in these energy conversion processes. Burning C atoms produces CO2 (carbon dioxide), which is a greenhouse gas and stays in the atmosphere a long time. Burning H atoms produces H2O (water vapour), which does not stay in the atmosphere a long time (surplus water vapour comes down by precipitation such as rain). Comparing natural gas, oil and electricity, burning natural gas produces the largest amount of innocuous H2O and the least amount of harmful CO2. Using for the same purpose electricity as it is being produced today produces the largest amount of harmful CO2. ----------------------------------------- Of course, using only renewable sources of energy for heating and producing electricity (solar, water, wind, waves, tides) is still better, as this causes by far less CO2 (none or almost none) than burning natural gas. Therefore, in countries that are already producing all of their electricity from renewable sources (such as Norway), using electricity of course protects the environment much better than burning natural gas.

Answer 3

Burning the fossil fuel natural gas (methane) is better for the environment than burning other fossil fuels, because it emits less carbon dioxide than the others.

However, it still adds carbon to the atmosphere and this is causing global warming and climate change.

Answer 4

Natural gas, when burnt, releases less carbon dioxide than oil, and much less than coal. As carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, causing global warming when emitted from fossil fuels, natural gas is slightly better for the environment.

Answer 5

Natural gas is one of the cleanest burning fuels, producing primarily carbon dioxide, water vapor, and small amounts of nitrogen oxides.