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Where did you ever see that I wanted to go with wind alone?

I've always stated that we need to pursue all possible solutions, with the following order of priority:

  • conservation and energy efficiency
  • wind
  • nuclear
  • others

If we go to 30% wind with lower consumption, nuclear can easily cover the gap, with a few gas plants for network stability and peaking needs.

Do remember that I'm in France, so your arguments to do more nuclear sometimes sound silly to me from my EDF-fuelled perspective...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 01:33:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You know what's really funny? Richardk's ranking of energy sources (including "negawatts" from conservation) in his diary on implications ot technology matches your ranking.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 01:36:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Energy

  • conservation
  • shifting demand to off-peak hours
  • nuclear, hydro [update]
  • wind
  • oil, gas; the global warming costs of past usage may easily climb into the tens of trillion USD range
  • coal




In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 01:41:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Where [update] means that wind and nuclear traded places.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 02:06:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And conservation isn't monolithic by any means. There's a study on http://nuclearinfo.net about the cost of conservation measures in Australia. The costs of the measures was geometric and only the first block of conservation was cost-effective.

It's odd to think of giant nuclear plants as a tool for the masses. The only thing I can think of to reconcile the two views is that nuclear's non-modularity (you need a half-dozen nuclear plants to get to the cheap rates) adds extra non-monetary costs.

I've learned a great deal about energy production in the last year, since I first made that list.

by richardk (richard kulisz gmail) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 02:15:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
sweet

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Mon Jan 29th, 2007 at 04:43:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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