4 ms·

Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own. It is not possible to heat houses or power a grid during low-wind periods in winter or at nor

Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own. It is not possible to heat houses or power a grid during low-wind periods in winter or at northern latitudes for sustained periods (weeks to months) with wind and solar. Nuclear can act as a zero carbon base load power. And we need to be making those investments now, or we'll be stuck with fossil for a lot longer than 10 years. I'll also add that renewables were made possible by massive government subsidies while they developed enough economies of scale to compete with other power sources. High carbon tax with subsidies for ALL zero carbon energy, including nuclear, are the way forward.

melling 4y ago
“Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own” Why has this been explained repeatedly for decades, yet still not understood? We’ve basically squandered half a century trying to stop climate change because people don’t like nuclear power
- ncmncm 4y ago
  Because it is wholly false.
  - melling 4y ago
    It’s 2022 and 40% of global electricity is from coal. We just hit 10% from solar and wind. Here’s Carl Sagan from 1985: https://youtu.be/Wp-WiNXH6hI https://youtu.be/Wp-WiNXH6hI He said China would use all that coal and they did. We lost decades of time. Now we need a few additional miracles.
    - ncmncm 4y ago
      And instead we have people proposing we do nothing at all while they try to build nukes.
      - melling 4y ago
        not exactly sure what this is referring to. Please add a little substance to which someone can respond. Think we’d all like to see much more wind and solar. And wouldn’t it be nice if we reached 10% EV usage in 5 years?
        ZeroGravitas 4y ago
        "Usage" is a bit vague but we're already at 10% EV sales worldwide since it doubled for each of the last couple of years: > Growth has been particularly impressive over the last three years, even as the global pandemic shrank the market for conventional cars and as manufacturers started grappling with supply chain bottlenecks. In 2019, 2.2 million electric cars were sold, representing just 2.5% of global car sales. In 2020, the overall car market contracted but electric car sales bucked the trend, rising to 3 million and representing 4.1% of total car sales. In 2021, electric car sales more than doubled to 6.6 million, representing close to 9% of the global car market and more than tripling their market share from two years earlier. All the net growth in global car sales in 2021 came from electric cars. You'd think EVs and Nuclear would be a great pairing but it's unusual to see someone praising both. A somewhat weird place to be in preferring nuclear to gas (and renewables) but not EV to ICE.
        ncmncm 4y ago
        Money is fungible. A dollar split between pouring concrete for a nuke and paying for coal in the meantime is a dollar not available to spend on immediately much more productive solar.
    - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
      Solar and wind are cheap. Mostly due to scale. A scale we could have reached faster if people didn't keep repeating false things like: "Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own” You should check out graphs of renewables deployment (minus hydro which has been steady for a while) it makes reaching 10% wind/solar a lot more hopeful than you state it. The growth is staggering. > There are now 50 countries that have crossed that 10% wind and solar generation mark, and seven countries hit that milestone in 2021: China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Argentina, Hungary, and El Salvador, according to the report. Three countries in particular have shown a particularly fast transition, with Vietnam, Australia, and the Netherlands having moved 8% of their total electricity demand over to wind and solar from fossil fuels in only the last two years. These countries set a precedent, Jones says, to show other policy makers “there are ways to do this and not worry about keeping the lights on.”

melling 4y ago

“Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own” Why has this been explained repeatedly for decades, yet still not understood? We’ve basically squandered half a century trying to stop climate change because people don’t like nuclear power

ncmncm 4y ago
Because it is wholly false.
- melling 4y ago
  It’s 2022 and 40% of global electricity is from coal. We just hit 10% from solar and wind. Here’s Carl Sagan from 1985: https://youtu.be/Wp-WiNXH6hI https://youtu.be/Wp-WiNXH6hI He said China would use all that coal and they did. We lost decades of time. Now we need a few additional miracles.
  - ncmncm 4y ago
    And instead we have people proposing we do nothing at all while they try to build nukes.
    - melling 4y ago
      not exactly sure what this is referring to. Please add a little substance to which someone can respond. Think we’d all like to see much more wind and solar. And wouldn’t it be nice if we reached 10% EV usage in 5 years?
      - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
        "Usage" is a bit vague but we're already at 10% EV sales worldwide since it doubled for each of the last couple of years: > Growth has been particularly impressive over the last three years, even as the global pandemic shrank the market for conventional cars and as manufacturers started grappling with supply chain bottlenecks. In 2019, 2.2 million electric cars were sold, representing just 2.5% of global car sales. In 2020, the overall car market contracted but electric car sales bucked the trend, rising to 3 million and representing 4.1% of total car sales. In 2021, electric car sales more than doubled to 6.6 million, representing close to 9% of the global car market and more than tripling their market share from two years earlier. All the net growth in global car sales in 2021 came from electric cars. You'd think EVs and Nuclear would be a great pairing but it's unusual to see someone praising both. A somewhat weird place to be in preferring nuclear to gas (and renewables) but not EV to ICE.
      - ncmncm 4y ago
        Money is fungible. A dollar split between pouring concrete for a nuke and paying for coal in the meantime is a dollar not available to spend on immediately much more productive solar.
  - ZeroGravitas 4y ago
    Solar and wind are cheap. Mostly due to scale. A scale we could have reached faster if people didn't keep repeating false things like: "Renewables are not a viable solution to energy needs on their own” You should check out graphs of renewables deployment (minus hydro which has been steady for a while) it makes reaching 10% wind/solar a lot more hopeful than you state it. The growth is staggering. > There are now 50 countries that have crossed that 10% wind and solar generation mark, and seven countries hit that milestone in 2021: China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam, Argentina, Hungary, and El Salvador, according to the report. Three countries in particular have shown a particularly fast transition, with Vietnam, Australia, and the Netherlands having moved 8% of their total electricity demand over to wind and solar from fossil fuels in only the last two years. These countries set a precedent, Jones says, to show other policy makers “there are ways to do this and not worry about keeping the lights on.”