nuclear power

France is one of the most nuclear power dependent countries in the world; however it looks like times are changing. The French government is looking to steer their country away from nuclear dependency and encourage a focus on alternative energy processes--namely, wind.

When French President Francois Hollande took power in 2012, he made a pledge to reduce the country's nuclear dependency from 75% to 50% by 2025 and it looks like he is keeping to his word. The current goal of France is to reach 19 GW wind energy by 2020, which is a lofty goal from the country's current level of 8.2 GW according to the European Wind Energy Association's (EWEA) latest statistics. After a recent survey by the French government, the French people are very firmly behind this transition with 64% of French people seeing wind energy as a solution. What's more is that 80% of those in favour for wind energy believe that it is essential to invest in wind energy without waiting for the traditional power plants to reach the end of their life cycle.

The survey found that 65% of those surveyed would invest in renewable energy such as wind or solar power if they had to personally invest in one energy source while 15% chose nuclear, 7% chose gas, and 1% chose coal.

When it comes to what energy source these people would want constructed in their area 69% chose wind and solar, 21% chose nuclear, 16% chose gas and 4% chose coal. These results show that the French people are aware that they must make the energy transition and are confident in renewable energy sources to invest in it if they could. France is not the first country to try and shift towards a new and renewable energy source for their country, but hopefully their example will inspire more countries in Europe and around the world to do the same.