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Building more solar/wind power means building more gas turbines, because that's the only way to ensure you can meet demand from a solar plant when it's dark out
by InclinedPlane 13y ago
Building more solar/wind power means building more gas turbines, because that's the only way to ensure you can meet demand from a solar plant when it's dark out or a wind plant when it's not windy.
If we want more nuclear capacity we need to be serious about it. I think LFTR probably deserves a few billions in research, if it pans out it could make nuclear competitive on price and reduce a whole crap-ton of issues normally associated with nuclear.
- MaysonL 13y agoAlthough increased forecasting accuracy for renewables will lessen the need for standby. See "Better Weather Analysis Could Lead to Cheaper Renewables" http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518051/better-weather-analysis-could-lead-to-cheaper-renewables/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518051/better-weather-a...
- toomuchtodo 13y agoGoogle invests in a weather forecasting firm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climate_Corporation); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Climate_Corporation); combined with Nest data, Google could lead the utility energy management space.
- InclinedPlane 13y agoIt doesn't require forecasting to predict nightfall every day, that's still a serious problem for solar.