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Nuclear provides 20% of our power today and would have provided 100% of our power today if we hadn't stopped building in the 80s and had merely kept up the pace
by jjoonathan 5y ago
Nuclear provides 20% of our power today and would have provided 100% of our power today if we hadn't stopped building in the 80s and had merely kept up the pace.
Congrats to solar on reaching 3% of our energy mix. I'm genuinely glad that science and industry finally figured out clean energy that met the approval of environmentalists. I don't think the billion or so tons of extra CO2 spent waiting for cheap solar were worth it, but what's done is done and we just have to live with the consequences.
- Jedd 5y ago> Nuclear provides 20% of our power today .. It does? I'm not finding any citations that support that. The largest figure I'm seeing is ~ 10% > ... and would have provided 100% of our power today if we hadn't stopped building in the 80s and had merely kept up the pace. Well if we'd embraced solar + wind + storage systems in the 80's or earlier, we'd be 100% solar / wind by now. Academic counter-factuals are often equal parts fascinating and depressing.
- jsnell 5y agoYou might be defining "our" differently. You're correct worldwide. The GP is probably correct if they're talking of their home country. Only 30 countries in the world have any nuclear powerplants, with a median of about 20%. e.g. US and Russia are at that level.