4 ms·

I cited natural gas being used for baseload power. In the last several years, gas has been installed frequently as baseload generation. All I'm saying is that

I cited natural gas being used for baseload power. In the last several years, gas has been installed frequently as baseload generation. All I'm saying is that I think governments' approaches to incentivizing energy production are very suboptimal for mitigating (negative) effects of climate change. And negative energy prices are one of the red flags that this is the case.

bunderbunder 8y ago
FWIW, my understanding is that the bulk of the baseload natural gas plants are being installed as replacements for older coal plants that are being decommissioned. Considering that the latest project to construct new nuclear plants in the USA nearly put Toshiba - like, the whole company, not just their power plant division - into bankruptcy, I'm not certain, on purely economic grounds, how realistic an option "more nuclear" is.
- themaninthedark 8y ago
  Toshiba was hit because they acquired Westinghouse, I remember reading that Westinghouse had some accounting irregularities before the acquisition that then Toshiba continued until recently. I don't think it was the projects and the cost of them themselves but previous underlying problems in the companies.
  - bunderbunder 8y ago
    The big problem was that Westinghouse signed a contract that put them pretty much exclusively on the hook for cost overruns, without any good way to get out of it. That explains why it hit them so hard, but it doesn't necessarily explain the cost overruns in the first place. A lot of that can at least be partially explained by other, deeper problems. For example, they kept reworking the design even after breaking ground, which seems symptomatic of the loss of engineering expertise in the field over the past few decades. The whole saga has also led to two major manufacturers - Toshiba and Westinghouse - exiting the market, which I'm inclined to take as an omen that, at least in the North American energy market, a lot of these deeper problems can be expected to worsen instead of getting better.

bunderbunder 8y ago

FWIW, my understanding is that the bulk of the baseload natural gas plants are being installed as replacements for older coal plants that are being decommissioned. Considering that the latest project to construct new nuclear plants in the USA nearly put Toshiba - like, the whole company, not just their power plant division - into bankruptcy, I'm not certain, on purely economic grounds, how realistic an option "more nuclear" is.

themaninthedark 8y ago
Toshiba was hit because they acquired Westinghouse, I remember reading that Westinghouse had some accounting irregularities before the acquisition that then Toshiba continued until recently. I don't think it was the projects and the cost of them themselves but previous underlying problems in the companies.
- bunderbunder 8y ago
  The big problem was that Westinghouse signed a contract that put them pretty much exclusively on the hook for cost overruns, without any good way to get out of it. That explains why it hit them so hard, but it doesn't necessarily explain the cost overruns in the first place. A lot of that can at least be partially explained by other, deeper problems. For example, they kept reworking the design even after breaking ground, which seems symptomatic of the loss of engineering expertise in the field over the past few decades. The whole saga has also led to two major manufacturers - Toshiba and Westinghouse - exiting the market, which I'm inclined to take as an omen that, at least in the North American energy market, a lot of these deeper problems can be expected to worsen instead of getting better.