Gas-fired plants are the ideal complement to wind in that they can step in when wind is not available (and hydro or pumped storage is not), so the goal is not to eliminate gas, but to keep for the most valuable roles.
For district heating, I doubt that nukes can do it. The Danes have been pursuing biomass CHP plants and that can be peplicated in a number of places. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Of course, incinerating garbage does pose the problem of rendering unrecoverable a number of non-renewable raw materials that could otherwise have been reused. Whether this will become a dealbreaker remains to be seen, but it is a problem that we will have to deal with, because burning off perfectly good reusable resources is a luxury we can ill afford in this century.
- Jake If you only spend 20 minutes of the rest of your life on economics, go spend them here.
The new garbage incinerator here in Uppsala is a state-of-the-art CHP system. A bit over 100 MW IIRC.
Of course, incinerating garbage does pose the problem of rendering unrecoverable a number of non-renewable raw materials that could otherwise have been reused.
This problem is easily overcome. When Sweden signed the antipersonell mine ban treaty and couldn't use AP-mines anymore, we renamned them "defence charges". Hence, we got the brilliant idea of renaming garbage incineraion "energy recycling". ;) Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
It's the copper, aluminium and iron that goes up in the air and is scattered to the winds...
Or, at best, is oxidised so far into uselessness that recovering them becomes a real energy hog.
Butning off perfectly good petrochemical feedstuffs is another thing we can ill afford. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Of course, a week after they've explained that it was an economic impossibility Fortum went out and said they'd like to incorporate district heating for Helsingfors (Helsinki) when they build their new nuke at Lovisa... Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
