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>Authors ignore the power storage problem, which causes lots of energy to be wasted. This "problem" is why we need nuclear. You can't store power generated by
by x220 7y ago
>Authors ignore the power storage problem, which causes lots of energy to be wasted.
This "problem" is why we need nuclear. You can't store power generated by solar and wind, so when the sun goes down or the wind dies down, the power goes out unless you rely on some other source. Nuclear can work every hour of the day. It's the only power generation method which can supply power at every hour of the day and can be deployed almost everywhere (hydroelectric is neat but you're screwed if you don't have a good river). All these other "problems" have been written about extensively by specialists, just not by journalists.
As for the rest of your problems with nuclear specifically, I don't think you're comparing the negatives of nuclear with the negatives of literally any other power source.
The real reason we won't go nuclear is that Democrats and progressives don't like it because it's scary and makes them quake at night. We could use nuclear as one tool in fighting climate change, but we aren't willing to do that. We're dying by our own hands.
- jacquesm 7y ago> so when the sun goes down or the wind dies down, the power goes out unless you rely on some other source. Power can be transmitted reasonably efficiently over very long distances. Long enough that this need not be a problem. Solar is more predictable than wind in this respect but the combination is more reliable than either alone.
- x220 7y agoIf the transmission and storage isn't a problem, why hasn't Germany's carbon emissions from energy stayed roughly the same? Since 2000 they've invested a lot into solar and wind, and yet they still produce roughly the same amount of energy from coal and gas.
- jacquesm 7y agoIncreased consumption, for the most part.
- roenxi 7y agoAre you sure about that? I've been keeping an eye on the German numbers because it is the fairest experiment and it looks to me like they've failed to have any sort of environmentally positive outcome. Their energy use is flat, and they've swapped nuclear for renewables, with a little reduction in hard-coal [0]. If the goal of Germany's Energiewende was cleaner energy, France is thrashing them without even trying. That is really a stunning endorsement of just how technically excellent nuclear power is. [0] https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy-consumption-and-power-mix-charts https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/germanys-energy-c...
- westwooded 7y agoTransmission is actually one of the biggest problems identified by US ISOs. Not easy to get the power where it is needed bc big transmission lines are costly.
- jacquesm 7y agoThere is a whole revolution happening in grid transmission right now. High voltage DC lines that were considered impossible not all that long ago now span 1000's of KM between unsynchronized grids and with reduced transmission losses to boot.
- 8bitsrule 7y agoChina has spent the last 10 years building out a $90B UHV transmission system. They're nearly done. We're still thinking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-voltage_electricity_transmission_in_China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-voltage_electricity...