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Truth_is_Liberal t1_iyvl5v7 wrote

Reply to comment by jadrad in Egypt to add 1.1 GW in solar, wind power with cheapest rates in Africa by darth_nadoma

Not sure why anyone would circlejerk about this. It's an obvious solution in a desert nation with far more sun than average. Plus, most people recognize that the LCOE for solar is amazing now, even for sub-optimal climates.

Pro-nuclear people just recognize the fact that the nuclear threat is overblown, and that nuclear makes great baseline power generation. Coal kills more people every year than nuclear power has killed in all of the last 80 years - including all five serious nuclear power accidents. A single coal ash cleanup probably exceeds all US nuclear cleanup for all of time (in cost).

Coal is the enemy. LNG is the quiet enemy, though better than coal.

We don't have to choose between nuclear and solar. We should absolutely be pursuing mostly solar/wind, but with a safety backbone of nuclear fission (and later fusion).

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Mirdclawer t1_iyw418t wrote

To be fair most people online don't even know what the LCOE is and maybe only are 0.0001 as knowledgeable as you are. Everywhere I see a lot of myths and nonsense "renewables are a scam, they're worse for the climates, nuclear is underrated and only kept down due to people being stupid/sleeping on it/overly cautious".

Just saying that renewables is cheap makes people's brain implodes even though it's a fact.

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Truth_is_Liberal t1_iyyacpi wrote

Yeah it's really unfortunate that a lot of exceptionally dumb myths persisted over the years. I love the "a Hummer is better than buying a new Prius" myth. It was such an apples to oranges comparison of costs; I honestly think that argument was a "Chewbacca defense" for stupid giant SUV's. Just utter nonsense meant to elicit a non-response.

This has carried forward into renewables, where some people think PV and wind are still as expensive as they once were.

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TennisADHD t1_iz0e3s8 wrote

It's almost as if giant corporations that rely on fossil fuels have incentives to influence skepticism.

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Truth_is_Liberal t1_iz0ifmr wrote

... and thus spent 60+ years lying to us (specifically about climate change).

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momentimori t1_iyxjzvo wrote

PVC efficiency drops significantly in higher temperatures. They require regular cleaning to remove dust or their efficiency tanks as well.

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ArandomDane t1_iyy1kmt wrote

> and that nuclear makes great baseline power generation.

While it is true nuclear power is great for baseload power generation. Sadly, that is a nice way of saying this form of power production sucks at load following.

Which is a problem in grids with sufficient solar and/or wind doesn't need baseload power production. It require complimentary power supply/production.

Sufficient, meaning enough VRE to there being enough variable production that there at times the full power production of the nuclear power plant isn't required.

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CloneEngineer t1_iyyfu57 wrote

Agree with your comments. There is a very vocal pro-nuclear majority that seems to think this is the best technology to deploy for power. The tough part of nuclear is that it's super expensive. And even though we've been building PWR reactors for 50 years, the cost to build new reactors isn't coming down. Over building renewables / batteries is more cost effective than building fission reactors.

Maybe fusion or SMRs can change that, but nuclear is just too expensive to build as a primary power source.

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yyytobyyy t1_iyz8bea wrote

Last week europe hit some highest electricity spot prices partly because there was no sun and no wind for few days. What would you suggest we do on these days in winter?

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Truth_is_Liberal t1_iz0sjr4 wrote

This is why I think we need nuclear (hopefully fusion within 15 years), but also we need to continue pursuing energy storage methods for those nations or regions that cannot construct nuclear or hydro power generation.

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SirGlenn t1_iyvms5g wrote

We have plenty of flat hot desert landscape in the U.S. politics and greed is why the U.S. is so far behind in it's solar energy, when it should be at least in the top 5? several countries are occasionally reporting: "all the electricity used today, was solar or wind power"

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Truth_is_Liberal t1_iyvnjwa wrote

Oh my yes. We're so far behind where we could and should be in the US. Some people will say that the "economies of scale just weren't there," but that's reductive. The fact is, we've been subsidizing the wrong power sources for the last 30 years. Every single dollar spent on coal, LNG, or oil has not only been wasted, but I consider them "throwing good money after bad." That is, we've not only lost the missed tax revenue, but we've lost the potential gains from making the switch sooner.

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