Technology entrepreneur Bret Kugelmass believes that climate change can be fought with nuclear energy. Speaking at an engineering event at the University of Michigan, he declared, “We not only have to stop climate change, but reverse it.” Kugelmass is self-admittedly driven by the belief that the incredibly efficient power production of nuclear energy has the ability to clean up carbon emissions in our atmosphere. While alternative sources of renewable energy such as wind and solar are great for reducing our own environmental impact, they’re nowhere near powerful enough to remove carbon from our air. Nuclear is our only source of energy that is equally clean and powerful. But there are two major problems, Kugelmass concedes. The first is the safety record of nuclear energy. Incidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima have created a huge amount of distrust and fear, and the term “radiation” is still a sinister one. It’s difficult to pass the blame for these disasters on to human irresponsibility, rather than the technology’s own failings. The biggest problem though, Kugelsman claims, is simply money. In its current form, nuclear energy is not profitable enough to receive large scale investment. He believes that if it can be strategized again as a genuine, profitable business like oil, coal or gas, then nuclear’s popularity will sky rocket. With continued investment and innovation, perhaps we will one day soon be able to clean the earth up again.
