Financial Associated Press (Shanghai, editor Bian Chun) news, with the international energy prices soaring, the world's richest man, Tesla CEO Musk in recent days frequently for the problem. After proposing to increase global oil and gas production, he called on Europe to increase the use of nuclear power.
Earlier on Monday, Musk tweeted that The European side should restart dormant nuclear power plants and increase the amount of electricity generated by existing nuclear power plants, which is critical to national and international safety.
"For those who (mistakenly) think there is a risk of radiation, choose the location you think is the worst. I would travel there and eat locally grown food on TV. He said. Many years ago, shortly after the Fukushima accident, I did this in Japan. The radiation risk is much lower than most people think. ”
He also noted that nuclear energy is much better at making global warming than burning hydrocarbons.
As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, the United States said on Sunday that it was in talks with European allies to ban the import of Russian crude. This has left Europe's energy supply in a crisis of disruption, with European countries particularly dependent on Russian energy, with more than a third of fossil fuel consumption coming from Russian exports.
Many EU countries have been hoping to phase out nuclear power in recent years and continue to shut down nuclear power plants, with Germany planning to shut down all nuclear power plants in the country by 2022 and Italy canceling plans to build new reactors. But now the situation has changed, last month the European Union defined nuclear power as a green energy source, France announced a new round of nuclear power construction, and French President Emmanuel Macron called for the revitalization of the French nuclear power industry.
Call for a global increase in oil and gas production
Just on Friday, Musk also called for an increase in global oil and gas production to ease high oil prices.
Musk created Tesla, an electric car company, in part to free the world from fossil fuels and create an economy based on sustainable, renewable energy. From this perspective, Musk's position is surprising.
Musk tweeted late on Friday: "It has to be said that we need to increase oil and gas production immediately." Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. ”
"Obviously, this will have a negative impact on Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react immediately to make up for Russia's oil and gas exports," he added in a follow-up tweet.
International oil prices have recently risen sharply as economic sanctions and war threaten Russia's oil supply. U.S. benchmark crude prices closed above $115 a barrel on Friday, up 26 percent on a weekly basis. Brent crude oil briefly approached $140 a barrel on Monday due to the risk of a U.S. and European ban on Russian products and delays in Iran talks, and WTI crude futures briefly broke through $130 a barrel, both of which hit a new high since 2008.