Solar and wind power aren't yet reliable enough to be the electricity industry's preferred green power source, according to infrastructure consultancy Black and Veatch's annual industry survey.
Black and Veatch interviewed 607 industry folks from 367 different firms and asked them which environmentally friendly electricity source they favored.
For at least the fifth year in a row, nuclear came out on top, with natural gas now just behind it. Here's the chart:
Black and Veatch
Here's B&V's Ryan Pletka on why the most environmentally friendly technologies aren't so hot with industry folks:
Consistent with their mandate, Electric Utility Report survey respondents emphasized technologies that ensure the highest levels of reliability, while recognizing growing concern over environmental impacts. The rankings support these dual concerns as nuclear generation and natural gas have reduced emission profiles versus other fossil fuel-based technologies. However, due to the intermittent nature of wind/solar with present technology, they are not viewed as within the industry as preferred baseload generation sources."
Nuclear's emissions are negligible, while the EPA recently cut estimates of how much natural gas emits, though the latter point remains somewhat disputed.