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> The only energy source that can provide green energy reliably going forward is nuclear This simply isn't backed by real life experience. A not too small fact

by tete 4y ago

> The only energy source that can provide green energy reliably going forward is nuclear This simply isn't backed by real life experience. A not too small factor about Germany producing more power is that France for years now always has problems producing enough energy, because they have to put down their nuclear plants for various reasons. In these situations nuclear power plants typically still require energy. France put all its eggs into nuclear, like pretty much no other country, and doesn't produce enough energy to even cover its own energy demands. And not just now, but the topic goes through the media at least once a year. Nobody denies that, it's just a fact. Reality just isn't that simple.

peoplefromibiza 4y ago
AFAIK France produces 80% of their energy with nuclear plants and the rest is provided mostly by renewables. France is one of the biggest exporters of electricity in the World and that's where most of the non-nuclear and non-renewable production goes.
- tete 4y ago
  France is a net importer. I am not sure what exactly you mean by "France is one of the biggest exporters" though. Here a graph that shows "total energy used in the country minus its production of energy", which shows that France that mostly produces nuclear energy consistently requires more energy than it produces. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/france/Energy_imports/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/france/Energy_imports/ Even though that wasn't really what I am talking about. The reality is that France frequently has to shut down many of their reactors, which causes them to for longer periods of time require energy from Germany. The reason for that is that for example in July 2022, 29 of their 56 nuclear plants were offline due to outages. Given that as you the majority of what France produces is nuclear energy, this is a big problems. These offline plants still require energy for cooling. So if other countries didn't provide energy France would have had a blackout. A lot of that is evidently cold by climate change and heat (these problems mostly happen in summer), but at the same time France for example at the end of 2021 had issues and needed to import energy for heating. This is not to be pro-gas or coal at all. I think they should be abandoned as quickly as possible for many reasons, CO2, pollution both at energy production as well as fuel production, limits on availability, etc. This is to say that just everyone switching to to nuclear energy isn't a magical fix. There is a strong need for mixes, both in how energy is produced and saved. And when I say saving, I don't mean batteries, but storage plants, some for long time storage like pumped storage hydroelectricity, and various types with typically lower storage, but quicker response times for spikes to prevent outages. Cause then one can actually make use of less consistent energy sources. Short-term and long-term storage work. And the more of those you have to more stable your energy grid will be, regardless of whether you use nuclear power or other power. And you won't have to shut down plants so quickly, because you overproduce at certain times of the day, be it for solar energy or less demand at night, for nuclear energy.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    I mean that In 2021, France exported a total of some 87 terawatt hours of electricity. Meanwhile, electricity imports to France amounted to 44 terawatt-hours that year Ukraine war turned France into a net importer (not by much) but their situation is far from as bad as in other countries, for example my country, Italy.
  - peoplefromibiza 4y ago
    can't update the original post anymore, after you edited yours so energy production by source in France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:France_Electricity_production_1981-2017_(EIA).png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:F... energy consumption by source (the mix is much more diversified than the production) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:Energy_mix_in_France.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:E... It's true that they had to shutdown multiple reactors, but on average their energy production creates a surplus respect to their demand.
mytailorisrich 4y ago
France also made policy mistakes by significantly reducing its investment in nuclear without committing on any real alternatives, and lately also by postponing critical maintenance "because of Covid", which was a ridiculous thing to do.

by tete 4y ago

peoplefromibiza 4y ago

AFAIK France produces 80% of their energy with nuclear plants and the rest is provided mostly by renewables. France is one of the biggest exporters of electricity in the World and that's where most of the non-nuclear and non-renewable production goes.

tete 4y ago
France is a net importer. I am not sure what exactly you mean by "France is one of the biggest exporters" though. Here a graph that shows "total energy used in the country minus its production of energy", which shows that France that mostly produces nuclear energy consistently requires more energy than it produces. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/france/Energy_imports/ https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/france/Energy_imports/ Even though that wasn't really what I am talking about. The reality is that France frequently has to shut down many of their reactors, which causes them to for longer periods of time require energy from Germany. The reason for that is that for example in July 2022, 29 of their 56 nuclear plants were offline due to outages. Given that as you the majority of what France produces is nuclear energy, this is a big problems. These offline plants still require energy for cooling. So if other countries didn't provide energy France would have had a blackout. A lot of that is evidently cold by climate change and heat (these problems mostly happen in summer), but at the same time France for example at the end of 2021 had issues and needed to import energy for heating. This is not to be pro-gas or coal at all. I think they should be abandoned as quickly as possible for many reasons, CO2, pollution both at energy production as well as fuel production, limits on availability, etc. This is to say that just everyone switching to to nuclear energy isn't a magical fix. There is a strong need for mixes, both in how energy is produced and saved. And when I say saving, I don't mean batteries, but storage plants, some for long time storage like pumped storage hydroelectricity, and various types with typically lower storage, but quicker response times for spikes to prevent outages. Cause then one can actually make use of less consistent energy sources. Short-term and long-term storage work. And the more of those you have to more stable your energy grid will be, regardless of whether you use nuclear power or other power. And you won't have to shut down plants so quickly, because you overproduce at certain times of the day, be it for solar energy or less demand at night, for nuclear energy.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  I mean that In 2021, France exported a total of some 87 terawatt hours of electricity. Meanwhile, electricity imports to France amounted to 44 terawatt-hours that year Ukraine war turned France into a net importer (not by much) but their situation is far from as bad as in other countries, for example my country, Italy.
- peoplefromibiza 4y ago
  can't update the original post anymore, after you edited yours so energy production by source in France https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:France_Electricity_production_1981-2017_(EIA).png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:F... energy consumption by source (the mix is much more diversified than the production) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:Energy_mix_in_France.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_France#/media/File:E... It's true that they had to shutdown multiple reactors, but on average their energy production creates a surplus respect to their demand.

mytailorisrich 4y ago

France also made policy mistakes by significantly reducing its investment in nuclear without committing on any real alternatives, and lately also by postponing critical maintenance "because of Covid", which was a ridiculous thing to do.