Small is Beautiful
A clean energy transition is in the making
Think Small.
Small is Beautiful offers a new outlook on next-generation safer and more affordable small modular nuclear reactors. It borrows a meme from the iconic Volkswagen Beetle advertising campaign of the early 1960s which challenged the prevailing vocabulary of “bigger is better” to invite Californians to explore the virtues and relevance of today’s advanced nuclear power reactors.
Earlier generation nuclear power reactors provided carbon-free electricity with consistently higher capacity, however they only scratched the surface of the technology’s potential. Today’s advanced small modular reactor designs can optimize for several different energy intensive applications, such as grid electricity, desalination, synthetic fuels, process heat for industry, pollution clean-up and district heating.
Decarbonizing California’s Energy System
Small is Beautiful is a catalyst for change and a source for sharing knowledge on solutions to address the climate challenge now. Solutions that reach difficult to decarbonize sectors like steel and cement making, and in transportation sectors like marine shipping, trucking, and aviation.
California has a target of 100% clean energy by 2045 with an interim goal to achieve 90% zero-carbon electricity sales and economy-wide net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.
It’s clear there’s much to do and little time to do it.
Transforming the energy system of the world’s fifth largest economy in the next two decades won’t be easy, and it means developing and deploying diverse clean energy technologies as soon as possible – including next generation SMRs.
