The Deputy Secretary for the Department of Energy in the United States of America (US), David Turk, said this at a symposium on nuclear energy and climate at the University of Ghana in Accra. Turk said the US was ready to share its experience with Ghana to enable the country to use nuclear for good.<\/p>\n
According to Turk, the country\u2019s nuclear reactor at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), coupled with other facilities, technologies and minerals, placed the West African country ahead of others in the region.<\/p>\n
The symposium, organised by the College of Basic and Applied Sciences(CBAS) in collaboration with the US Embassy in Ghana, afforded the US official an opportunity to highlight clean energy opportunities available to the country.<\/p>\n
According to Turk, if Ghana successfully leveraged nuclear technology, it would derive economic gains for its socio-economic development because many countries were investing in the technology for clean energy.<\/p>\n
He said Ghana was endowed with critical minerals needed for projects in Solar Photovoltaics (PV) or magnets and wind turbines, or EV batteries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about the processing of lithium, think about those products that can be used domestically, can be used in Africa to help bring those energy services that should be export opportunities, as well as the immensity of what we\u2019re going to need in this (energy) revolution is just phenomena.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s a hugely, hugely exciting opportunity. Some estimates have put this environment\u2019s opportunity to $23 trillion within a decade of market opportunity,\u201d said Turk.<\/p>\n
Turk said there was a huge opportunity in the clean energy space and urged all countries to take advantage of them to help save the planet from the impact of climate change.<\/p>\n
Prospects abound in nuclear and renewable energy
\nHe said aside from nuclear power there were prospects in renewable energy such as solar, wind energy, geothermal, of which the assets were high in Africa but with low investment.<\/p>\n
He said the US respected the efforts African countries were making to transition to clean energies, especially when the continent bore the brunt of the large carbon emissions from the rest of the world.<\/p>\n
On the US investment side Turk said the country had started focusing on offshore wind as another clean energy technology, because it was 18 times more potent on a daily basis than the electricity the whole world consumes currently.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo just offshore wind in and of itself can provide 18 times the electricity that the world uses right now. And that\u2019s just offshore wind that\u2019s not talking about geothermal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Turk said the US had also launched its biggest climate change clean energy legislation through which it was committing $500 billion towards clean energy to reduce the country\u2019s climate change footprint.<\/p>\n
Despite the vast opportunities, Turk said success in the clean energy area would still require private sector investment, public sector dedication and accountability on the part of the government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Attendees at a recent symposium heard how Ghana has the potential to become the leader in Africa when it comes to nuclear technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12963,"featured_media":19960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,21],"tags":[7,26,22],"class_list":{"0":"post-19963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-technology","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-technology"},"yoast_head":"\n