The cost of capital projects in the western world is completely bonkers right now, so I don't think we should just assume that we'll just build more capacity because we all have EVs.
I think at this point its very likely that the transition is going to result in some major power problems across the board, and we're already starting to see that.
Renewables aren't ready in the least bit to produce baseload power, natural & coal are being forced out and everything else is too expensive.
I think everyone needs to start thinking about personal solar + battery going into the future if they want sustainable power.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think it will solve itself. If people end up in a power crisis, a lot of the peripheral obstacles to developing infrastructure will start to crumble very quickly.
Not being able to charge phones and hop on TikTok will result in a wartime like effort.
Maybe I'm naive, but I think it will solve itself. If people end up in a power crisis, a lot of the peripheral obstacles to developing infrastructure will start to crumble very quickly.
Not being able to charge phones and hop on TikTok will result in a wartime like effort.
I don't think it'll solve itself, but I think there will be plenty of options available where although there will be a bunch of hiccups during the transition, solutions are easily obtainable and deployable.
A gas plan takes ~4 years to build, and tons of these things are built every year.
Nuclear right now takes 6-8 years on average which is "too long" I guess, but some people are pulling it off a lot faster:
That's just not true for nuclear here. Only 2 nukes have been built in North America since the 90's and one took 40+ years and the other was 14 years.
There's definitely reason to think that could change and the 7th or 8th iteration of the same design could maybe get there, but showing a graph comparing units built in China or in the 1970's with today is really inaccurate.
If we want nuclear, and we're serious, it'll need to be government led, have a multitude of plants built, and all will absolutely have to be the exact same design and construction outfit. Otherwise it simply ain't happening
The government wouldn't be building them, it's private enterprise
Same question.
And also, why would any private organization even want to get involved with these projects given the redtape and stupidity they have to work through in order to make progress?
This is like the pipeline issue.
Private enterprise can't build pipelines because the government doesn't create a feasible environment to do so. So government takes over, and then it goes insanely over budget.
But eventually it gets built, however all private capital is looks at it is and thinks 'hell no' when it comes to the next one.
Government won't be building them but they will be sure to slow down the process with as much environmental and consultation reviews if it enamours their political base.
Sure, but when people by EV's one of the key numbers they look at is range. It's very important. So when it's 30-50% less than that, it does matter because a "fill" in cold weather also takes a long time. How many people look up the range of a gas vehicle before buying? Very few, because a fill is 5 minutes.
Alternatively, I can fill my EV every night after work by plugging in when I get home. As long as your peak range is enough for your daily use, after accounting for the loss of efficiency in the cold, it's no issue.
Alternatively, I can fill my EV every night after work by plugging in when I get home. As long as your peak range is enough for your daily use, after accounting for the loss of efficiency in the cold, it's no issue.
Uh, ya, that was the point of my post. You need to know those things on an EV, where you don't care on a gas vehicle.
That's just not true for nuclear here. Only 2 nukes have been built in North America since the 90's and one took 40+ years and the other was 14 years.
There's definitely reason to think that could change and the 7th or 8th iteration of the same design could maybe get there, but showing a graph comparing units built in China or in the 1970's with today is really inaccurate.
If we want nuclear, and we're serious, it'll need to be government led, have a multitude of plants built, and all will absolutely have to be the exact same design and construction outfit. Otherwise it simply ain't happening
Agreed, my point was more that there are no physical constraints to building them at a decent pace. Lots of places with less bureaucracy are building them significantly faster and still maintaining high standards of safety.
