This video is my entry to the 2017 Masdar Engage Blogging Contest, part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week. Vote here for my video!

Masdar’s Global GenZ Sustainability Survey found that we believe that climate change is the biggest threat over the next decade. The solution to mitigate climate change lies in energy and we need to develop energy technology that is not only clean and reliable, but also affordable and abundant. Small modular reactors are simple and flexible and can be scaled up or down according to needs. This advanced nuclear technology is ready to be deployed by 2026. All we need is additional investment for commercialization and push from policymakers to make it happen.

This letter to the editor is a response to The Economist special report on oil published in the print edition on November 26, 2016.

Dear Editor,
 
I appreciate your recent special report on oil “Breaking the Habit,” it offered an excellent expose into the oil and energy market as a whole, past, present, and future. However, I believe that your complete lack of disregard for the role that nuclear technology plays in the energy market is an irresponsible oversight. The articles mentioned multiple times how renewables, such and wind and solar, and battery technology are disrupting the oil market and only mention nuclear at the very end when describing a fictitious play where China mines “helium-3 on the Moon to fuel nuclear-powered cars and homes on Earth.”
 
I can assure you that the role of nuclear technology in the energy market is not fictitious. Nuclear energy has been a threat to the oil industry for decades. Why do you think oil companies secretly funded anti-nuclear protests during the so-called “environmentalist” movement in the 1970s? They continue to invest in renewable technology not only to diversify but also because they know that intermittent renewables are create dependency on fossil fuels. Nuclear energy, other the hand, can provide reliable baseload and peak power without producing greenhouse gases, making a fully-electric (and clean) transportation system possible.
 
The Economist usually produces very honest and thorough publications and fairly represents nuclear energy. I hope that you recognize this oversight in reporting.
 
Sincerely,
Lenka Kollar