In the article “Why renewable energy is a worse option than nuclear” (Business Day, 2012), Andrew Kenny concludes that nuclear is a better choice compared to renewable energy. He presented mainly four arguments to prove his claim. Firstly, he claims that wind and solar generators are not as resource efficient compared to nuclear. Secondly, he believes that wind energy is unreliable. Thirdly, he reasons that wind energy is expensive and it is not economically friendly. Lastly, he believes that nuclear is the safer alternative. The author arguments seem logical. However, he had substantial lack of evidence and his reasoning is full of loopholes. The article is not only abundant in rhetoric traps, but also lacks a macroscopic view on renewable energy as his discussion is mainly focused on a few narrow aspects.

Andrew opens the article by first using connotations such as “strange” and “green religion” which may lead the audience to feel that the house which supports renewable energy is a mislead cult. He then uses slave labour and firewood as an example of renewable energy. However, renewable energy is energy produced from natural resources (ARENA, n.d) and slave labour is not one. He also claims that firewood manufacturing causes environmental calamity in Africa but did not elaborate on what is the calamity. Next, he narrows his whole arguments to...

/2010/12/climate-change-debacle-a-product-of-ignoring-failure-and-negative-results/ /2012/07/27/wind-turbine-net-capacity-factor-50-the-new-normal/ /article.cfm?id=hanford-nuclear-cleanup-problems /articles/health_and_science/green_room/2009/11/atomic_priesthoods_thorn_landscapes_and_munchian_pictograms.html /c/40/company-information/ /forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm /renewable/ 124 14 17 177 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 20mw 50 60 850 95 abund accord account administr africa agenc alloc also altern amount andrew annual arena argument arsenal articl aspect atom audienc australian author avenu averag b balanc ball believ benefit better big brand brought build busi calam capac caus chang choic civil claim clean cleantechnica.com cleantechnica.com/2012/07/27/wind-turbine-net-capacity-factor-50-the-new-normal/ cleanup climat closet communic compar comparison conclud conclus connect connot consid construct cost count critic culprit cult danger day death debacl deduct demand determin die discuss easi econom effect effici eia elabor electr empir energi environment eskom establish evid exampl expens explain factor factual fail failur fallaci farm fast feasibl februari feel firewood first focus form four friend fukushima full futur gave general generat geotherm give goe good govern green grid guarante hanford harmless health henc higher holist horizon hous howev hydropow ignor incid includ inde inform ingest inhal insuffici intang issu juliet kenni kwh l labour lack landscap last lcoe lead leak left less level levelis line link load logic look loophol macroscop main make mani manpow manufactur maximum may mean mention mere mess microscop minimum mislead miss mortal munchian n.d narrow natur need negat net new next normal nuclear occas offici one onshor open option origin other outlook overwhelm paragraph part per pictogram pictur plan plant poison polici present presum priesthood produc product prove radiat rate reason refer reliabl religion renew requir resourc result retriev rhetor run safer safeti say second seem septemb show slave solar sourc south specif state statement store strang strong substanti suppli support talk tank term think third thorn time transmiss transport trap turbin u.s uncertain undoubt unpredict unreli unsubstanti unwant us usactionnews.com usactionnews.com/2010/12/climate-change-debacle-a-product-of-ignoring-failure-and-negative-results/ use vagu valeri valu various view wast websit well whole wind word wors would write wrong www.arena.gov.au www.arena.gov.au/renewable/ www.eia.gov www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm www.eskom.co.za www.eskom.co.za/c/40/company-information/ www.scientificamerican.com www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hanford-nuclear-cleanup-problems www.slate.com www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/green_room/2009/11/atomic_priesthoods_thorn_landscapes_and_munchian_pictograms.html zachari