Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nuclear energy isn't going to die and it's still much cheaper than wind/solar energy while being much more green as well.
Proof? Citations? Because wind is already cheaper than nuclear (and solar will be in the next 2-3 years), and no one will invest in nuclear plants if they won't be profitable in 10 years (which they won't be).
Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
161–170 of 176 posts
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
>But the Prius combines both technologies and gets 40% thermal efficiency well, you can get an even better ICE with relatively simple improvements. In some sense there is just no business case for it as metal-air batteries would probably beat all the other options for passenger cars in near future. >Many think that hybrids and plug-in hybrids are a bridge technology to a pure EV future. But the future may end up bein…
> well, you can get an even better ICE with relatively simple improvements. You really can't. Note the VW emissions scandal. We've already hit the wall regarding how much energy we can squeeze out of a unit of liquid fuel (most of the energy gets wasted as heat).
far from it. Just for example - the gas turbine reaches 50+% efficiency and in sequence hybrids there is no limitations which killed gas turbine car 50 years ago. Of course gas turbine is expensive, so we aren't going this way.
>Note the VW emissions scandal.
A BigCo stuck in old ways tells nothing about what is technologically possible. I'd say you can't do worse than current typical gas or diesel engine which basically hasn't changed for 100+ years :) Even well known Atkinson cycle was implemented en-mass only recently. Once i file my patents, i'll tell you in more details about other efficient designs and improvements :)
Without the efforts like CAFE and CA emission/efficiency requirements, we'd still be stuck with 20% efficient carburetor gas ICE. The increase of the regulatory pressure creates market opportunity for efficient designs, and you'll see what will come when CAFE hits 50mpg :)
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
Regarding customers such as aluminum smelters: I wonder if nature could cope if we used fossil fuels for only them. Another thing, while wind/solar might might be approaching the cost of fossil fuels I suspect the story may be different for developing countries. In South Africa we have power capacity problems and what was the decision? Build the biggest coal power plant in the southern hemisphere. If we want to solve…
Actually, yes. Global atmospheric CO2 concentrations will (probably) stabilize if we reduce output to about 5% of the current level, by outflow to the deep ocean (which is a vast reservoir). But that is still very difficult to reach, especially with business as usual.
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Understanding costs with and without subsidies is critical. I believe the current reports about renewables being cost-effective relative to fossil fuels includes subsidies but I couldn't find the raw data after a few minutes of googling. If so, just means the costs are being shifted -- and that renewables are still more expensive than coal/gas. The big problem is that we still don't have effective ways to time-shift…
>Solar and wind power sources will never replace base-load coal/gas plants until we can solve that problem. Battery technology doesn't solve this problem yet. It's already being done in Hawaii: http://www.utilitydive.com/news/hawaii-co-op-solarcity-ink-d...
From the article: > In the power industry, Hawaii is commonly considered a "test case" for new renewable energy technologies because its power prices — the highest in the nation — have made cutting-edge resources cost-effective on the islands before they reach that point on the mainland.
So not directly applicable, right now, in most other locations.
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#165Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quite high. When you compress air it heats up and that energy is lost. When you expand it it gets very cold and you lose pressure (you can wait a bit for the air to warm it up to regain some of what was lost).
Could one store the excess heat from the compression and use this to heat the de-compressed air later?
The whole reason for the complicated schemes is because it's hard to store heat.
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You might not like that governments are taxing some forms of electricity more heavily, but it's a valid way of encouraging the industry to migrate to cleaner options. It's not just a "valid way". This is the way taxes are intended to work! Taxes are not just a way for the state to collect money (maybe in the past centuries). They are also the main way to frame the economy. Here in Germany, the term for "tax" is "St…
It's interesting how many times I see people not understanding the effects of taxes. Like the short-minded people that think they'll reap huge benefits from taxing cigarettes and base their budgets around it. But then people stop smoking or find alternative sources for cigarettes so that the huge windfall of tax income never happens. Now they are left with a huge hole in their budget.
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#168Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK since 2013 they've almost totally stopped building new coal plants. They've removed subsidies on mining, too which has led to pit closures. If it's not going down already, I imagine it will be going down within the next couple of years.
Sure, it will eventually decline. But when you see the sharp decline in electricity produced from nuclear power plants, it feels like a missed opportunity to lower CO2 emissions faster. I'm only looking at this from a greenhouse gases point of view. Maybe German nuclear power plants are particularly unsafe and it's better to wind them down quickly? I doubt it, which is why I lean towards an economical (more so than f…
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#1691. This is excellent. It means we're well on our way to sustainable energy generation. Wind and solar are only going to get cheaper. Even without subsidies, there is no reason to ever build another coal or oil fired generation facility. Natural gas will stick around until utility scale batteries ramp up, to where peaking plants are too expensive compared to utility scale batteries. 2. Nuclear is dead. Very dead. Thor…
Wind/solar + batteries will never cover everything, because statistically there will be an event that the (very finite) capacity can't meet - then people will die, either freezing or overheating.
"2. Nuclear is dead. Very dead. Thorium. Fast breeder. Pebble bed. I don't care which you pick, no one is going to pour 10 years and $1-4 billion into a plant that won't be cost competitive when it turns up (maybe some governments, but you can't fix that; it'll just get mothballed)."
You're very wrong here. China in particular is investing heavily in nuclear going forward, including thorium. There are a number of companies here in the US, such as Flibe Energy and Thorcon that are working hard on next-gen nuclear solutions.
Nuclear is actually more environmentally friendly than wind, as it doesn't decimate bird and bat populations, has a much smaller land use footprint, and doesn't cause widespread noise pollution. It also has the additional attributes of reliability and low cost. The inherently safe next-gen nuclear technologies will come in at less than 5 cents per KWH, perhaps as low as half that.
On a level playing field, wind in particular can't compete. Eventually solar may, given enough technological breakthroughs.
Re: Wind now competes with fossil fuels, and solar almost does
#1701. This is excellent. It means we're well on our way to sustainable energy generation. Wind and solar are only going to get cheaper. Even without subsidies, there is no reason to ever build another coal or oil fired generation facility. Natural gas will stick around until utility scale batteries ramp up, to where peaking plants are too expensive compared to utility scale batteries. 2. Nuclear is dead. Very dead. Thor…
"1. This is excellent. It means we're well on our way to sustainable energy generation. Wind and solar are only going to get cheaper. Even without subsidies, there is no reason to ever build another coal or oil fired generation facility. Natural gas will stick around until utility scale batteries ramp up, to where peaking plants are too expensive compared to utility scale batteries." Wind/solar + batteries will never…
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2015/05/f22/Enabling%20Wi...
> You're very wrong here. China in particular is investing heavily in nuclear going forward, including thorium. There are a number of companies here in the US, such as Flibe Energy and Thorcon that are working hard on next-gen nuclear solutions.
While China continues to build a handful of nuclear plants, their wind generation capacity is already far ahead of what they're producing from nuclear:
http://www.earth-policy.org/data_highlights/2015/highlights5...
> On a level playing field, wind in particular can't compete.
Wind is already cheaper than nuclear without subsidies in the USA and the UK. It also kills less birds and bats than buildings, cell towers, and cats.
http://www.ewea.org/blog/2013/03/us-wind-energy-is-now-more-...
http://cleantechnica.com/2015/03/04/wind-solar-substantially...
You mention next-gen nuclear tech will come in at 5 cents/kwh. Utility solar is already below 4 cents/kwh:
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/cheapest-solar-e...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-07/buffett-sc...