Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push • Hacker News Board

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#31

Post by kirion25 » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:40 PM UTC

markdown wrote: post #16

aiyodev wrote: post #13

Gates is worth ~$100B. The US federal budget is ~$4.1T per year. This is like asking someone with a 4 Gbps connection to transfer some files and offering to burn a single mini CD to help them.

> The US federal budget is ~$4.1T per year. What is the current US federal budget for building or supporting nuclear energy infrastructure?

https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/6-things-know-about-nucle...

$30.6 billion requested in 2019 for the Department of Energy, which includes more than $757 million for the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE).

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#32

Post by darawk » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:40 PM UTC

hristov wrote: post #12

Bad idea. We have plenty of much cheaper sources of green energy. And lets face it nuclear is far from green. Offshore wind energy is so successful that it is now negatively affecting solar as well as nuclear and fossil fuels. Furthermore, the greatest current innovation vis-a-vis energy is energy saving which is much cheaper than building new reactors. I should add that there is such an energy glut in the world nowa…

> Bad idea. We have plenty of much cheaper sources of green energy.

Gates basically has dedicated his life to thinking about issues like this. He funds and promotes all the other sources of green energy as well. It's clearly his considered opinion that nuclear energy is going to be an important component, over and above other sources of green energy to actually achieve our goals in an amount of time and at a scale to have a meaningful impact on climate change.

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#33

Post by arduanika » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:42 PM UTC

noobermin wrote: post #30

I'm pro-nuclear fission (full disclosure, I work on fusion related research, but I don't care about who wins more than I want society to win), but I think talking to any random person in the public who are already skeptical about fusion, to them fission has not had a great track record. Make as many arguments you want to make about fukushima facing a natural disaster, w/e, and how the field has advanced since three-m…

How kind has history been to the "safe" renewables?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banqiao_Dam

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#34

Post by chmaynard » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:43 PM UTC

Is this the way public policy is done now? Dueling billionaires throwing their money around? Gates can take his billions and shove them you know where.

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#35

Post by abootstrapper » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:43 PM UTC

Ya know, I feel like renewables are the future, but we’re kinda running out of runway here. I think a nuclear + renewables strategy is a great way to get us past fossil fuels quickly. Once we’re over fossil fuels we can tackle replacing nuclear with something better.

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#36

Post by m0zg » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:44 PM UTC

microcolonel wrote: post #27

dsign wrote: post #10

Pushing for green energy and good deeds with the current administration makes me fear for the health of Bill Gates... is he running out of time and considering desperate options? ... now that I think about it, we all are running out of time ... :-( ...

The more effective way to get what you ultimately want is to offer everyone the opportunity to achieve it. Imagine if, instead of making their case to the administration, the advocates of the FIRST STEP Act felt it was sufficient to criticize the administration, and then give up entirely . I see no reason why, with the right pitch, the Trump administration would be especially resistant to an effort like this. It's no…

You make it sound like First Step Act did not originate within the administration. Jared Kushner was the primary driver of it since day one.

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#37

Post by abootstrapper » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:45 PM UTC

chmaynard wrote: post #34

Is this the way public policy is done now? Dueling billionaires throwing their money around? Gates can take his billions and shove them you know where.

Wait until you hear about lobbyists and super pacs!

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#38

Post by rbg246 » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:48 PM UTC

markdown wrote: post #28

hristov wrote: post #12

Bad idea. We have plenty of much cheaper sources of green energy. And lets face it nuclear is far from green. Offshore wind energy is so successful that it is now negatively affecting solar as well as nuclear and fossil fuels. Furthermore, the greatest current innovation vis-a-vis energy is energy saving which is much cheaper than building new reactors. I should add that there is such an energy glut in the world nowa…

> Well gee that is great for you but what does the taxpayer get out of it. Green energy anywhere and anytime you need it, not just when the sun shines and the wind blows. The one major problem with nuclear energy is that mining uranium has thus far been an environmental disaster.

The major problem is that it will take twenty years to build a power station - look at Hinkley Point Power station

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_...

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#39

Post by max76 » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:49 PM UTC

abootstrapper wrote: post #37

chmaynard wrote: post #34

Is this the way public policy is done now? Dueling billionaires throwing their money around? Gates can take his billions and shove them you know where.

Wait until you hear about lobbyists and super pacs!

Throwing money around sounds like politics as usual. At least this policy seems to come genuine desire to help.

Re: Bill Gates promises to add his own billions if Congress does nuclear power push

#40

Post by microcolonel » Sat, Jan 26, 2019, 9:52 PM UTC

m0zg wrote: post #36

microcolonel wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The more effective way to get what you ultimately want is to offer everyone the opportunity to achieve it. Imagine if, instead of making their case to the administration, the advocates of the FIRST STEP Act felt it was sufficient to criticize the administration, and then give up entirely . I see no reason why, with the right pitch, the Trump administration would be especially resistant to an effort like this. It's no…

You make it sound like First Step Act did not originate within the administration. Jared Kushner was the primary driver of it since day one.

Yes, but it enjoyed broad support, and was progressive in substance. The assumption that the Trump administration would be futile to engage with on what could be construed as a "green" cause seems to stem from a broader assumption that they are incapable of, or resistant to, progressive policy.

My point is that if you couch it in the same balanced terms, there's no reason why an equally progressive initiative in energy should be assumed to be futile.