this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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[–] fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org -2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Price doesn't matter if it's cloudy like most winters with barely any sun and the wind is not blowing. Solar also won't work at night and energy storage is crap, batteries are very much not renewable. Of course there is reversible hydro plants but these can't be used everywhere and are a disaster for local ecosystems.

Everyone is acting like renewables will fix everything.. They won't. The only thing that can replace fossil fuels right now is nuclear, which is also not renewable, but at least we have plenty of fuel for it.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

if we were to replace current fossil plants with nuclear, the fuel runs out in 70-100. years and will get much more expensive. Think about paying ten times your electricity bill in 20 years.

It is possible to run a 100% renewable grid, using technology like hydrogen or other chemical storage system.

Solar wont have the output in winter. Nuclear plants will have to shut down in summer, because the water supply will get unstable. France nuclear heavy energy production could collapse within the next two decades if the current trend of lower river water continues. And there is no reason to believe otherwise.

But the biggest issue is that the grid is thought the wrong way around. Currently the supply is adjusted to the demand. But for many applications the demand can be adjusted to the supply. On the household level that means your fridge and washing machine to run, when there is a lot of energy available. On the industrial level that means to automate productions and adjust their intensity to available energy.

[–] fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not all nuclear plants are the same. Some can use nuclear waste as fuel. Others are small and modular which allows them be turned on and off as needed and also be deployed easier and cheaper. We need solutions sooner, rather than later. Nuclear tech is here now, storage for renewables still needs more time to refine and streamline.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

nuclear plants take decades to project and build. And the modular and reusing waste plants are still in the concept stage

[–] fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Modular reactors have been equiped to submarines for decades, they passed the concept stage long ago.

There are many kinds of nuclear reactors, but not much was invested into them to bring the cost down.

I am not saying that nuclear is perfect. Unless we figure out fusion it won't be a long term solution. It's just what we need right now to get rid of fossil fuels while we figure out the large scale renewable grids with good storage tech.

Hydrogen is a good option, if only EV manufacturers focused more on that... Charging the EV would be a matter of minutes not hours and there wouldn't be issues with colder climates like the current batteries have.

If nuclear is so easy now, why is nobody doing it?

[–] MattMastodon@mastodonapp.uk -1 points 1 year ago

@fatalError @tryptaminev

Hydrogen doesn't work and nuclear is too expensive CCS also doesn't work.

Renewables work and are cheap and easy to install. Combine them with battery in a SunWindBattery system and maybe a bit of hydro and we have enough energy.

There are so many solutions.

But instead we are using gas and burning oil. Politicians and fossil fuel companies obstruct renewables and other climate mitigation

Because profit is more important than human survival.

[–] Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thermal hydro has pretty much solved the storage problem and solar works fine during the winter.

[–] fatalError@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 year ago

There are many solutions to storage, not many being used. If someone is talking about storage, in 90% of cases they mean batteries and until that changes the problem isn't solved.

As for solar during winter, it might work, barely, but at much lower output just because you have a lot less sunlight during a day. So you have to cover 16-17 hours of no light with just 7-8 hours of sun. This varies wildly depending on location of course.