Sustainability Street: Is Nuclear Energy the Answer?

Welcome back to Sustainability Street, CPE’s podcast on the intersection of commercial real estate and the world we live in.For this episode, I'm talking about nuclear energy with Jon Lemmond, growth lead for sustainable operations, smart building services and energy engineering for real estate management services at JLL. There is a push to bring nuclear energy back into the mainstream power landscape. Its return would ease energy concerns and siting constraints for the fast-growing data center business and heavy industrial users. "If we can build nucler in a cost efficient way, once it's built, that's a huge amount of base loand that should then help us site more, build more and then also help minimize the cost increases from energy usage," Lemmond told me.But nuclear has sustainability downsides as well, and, Lemmond explained, its complex history has created a patchwork regulatory framework that will make progress difficult.Here are some highlights from our conversation:(02:26) Making of an energy expert(05:51) The federal push for nuclear(09:51) Nuclear and siting capability(15:08) A nation divided on nuclear(19:28) Shifting public opinion(20:48) Sustainability upsides/downsides(25:50) Elsewhere in energy innovation(30:41) For further information