4 ms·

It's more than a knee jerk reaction though, there are a lot of reasons to speed up the switch to solar and renewables. Global warming may have been a catalyst,

by pzuraq 13y ago

It's more than a knee jerk reaction though, there are a lot of reasons to speed up the switch to solar and renewables. Global warming may have been a catalyst, but it was going to happen eventually and they figured sooner rather than later.

anigbrowl 13y ago
Yes, but if you want to do something about global warming it'd be a lot smarter to keep the nuclear power stations running and take coal plants offline instead. Nuclear power has a spotty safety record overall, and the consequences of a mistake can be acutely disastrous, but coal is likewise a chronic disaster.
- dmd 13y ago
  > Nuclear power has a spotty safety record overall This is so incredibly false it's on par with stating "commercial aviation has a spotty safety record overall".
  - anigbrowl 13y ago
    I disagree. There have been lots of low-level safety violations, and it's easy to find examples of chronic mismanagement. By 'spotty' I mean lots of small flaws, a few big ones here and there. Certainly, it has a good low ratio of deaths per megawatt of power generated, but such metrics are not the whole story. I'm very pro-nuclear, but don't think there's an mileage in blowing off safety concerns.
- pzuraq 13y ago
  Agreed, I'm all for nuclear power personally and that is a somewhat less logical position, but the irrational fear of nuclear power is more of a worldwide phenomenon than a German one. All I'm saying is I think comparing American fear-culture to Germany's decision to quickly move to solar is at best apples to oranges and at worst completely nonsensical.
specialist 13y ago
First mover advantage. Germany's early embrace is going to look pretty smart, in retrospect. Ditto Google's early drive for lowering watts per flop in their data centers and seeking lower costs of energy. GDP (economic growth, however it's measured) has tracked fossil fuel consumption. Some smart people are working to decouple the two.

by pzuraq 13y ago

anigbrowl 13y ago

Yes, but if you want to do something about global warming it'd be a lot smarter to keep the nuclear power stations running and take coal plants offline instead. Nuclear power has a spotty safety record overall, and the consequences of a mistake can be acutely disastrous, but coal is likewise a chronic disaster.

dmd 13y ago
> Nuclear power has a spotty safety record overall This is so incredibly false it's on par with stating "commercial aviation has a spotty safety record overall".
- anigbrowl 13y ago
  I disagree. There have been lots of low-level safety violations, and it's easy to find examples of chronic mismanagement. By 'spotty' I mean lots of small flaws, a few big ones here and there. Certainly, it has a good low ratio of deaths per megawatt of power generated, but such metrics are not the whole story. I'm very pro-nuclear, but don't think there's an mileage in blowing off safety concerns.
pzuraq 13y ago
Agreed, I'm all for nuclear power personally and that is a somewhat less logical position, but the irrational fear of nuclear power is more of a worldwide phenomenon than a German one. All I'm saying is I think comparing American fear-culture to Germany's decision to quickly move to solar is at best apples to oranges and at worst completely nonsensical.

specialist 13y ago

First mover advantage. Germany's early embrace is going to look pretty smart, in retrospect. Ditto Google's early drive for lowering watts per flop in their data centers and seeking lower costs of energy. GDP (economic growth, however it's measured) has tracked fossil fuel consumption. Some smart people are working to decouple the two.