tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post751125787988344063..comments2024-03-27T06:42:31.956+00:00Comments on Mark Brinkley (aka House 2.0): What if we face an energy glut?Mark Brinkleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-11759602276349579332011-03-13T13:08:39.570+00:002011-03-13T13:08:39.570+00:00It's nice to imagine a lot of things, but this...It's nice to imagine a lot of things, but this energy glut future isn't going to happen.<br /><br />When it comes to the future, all problems can be traced back to two things. Population levels, and human greed.<br /><br />The world is finite, but people live like it isn't. The explosion in the rate we have destroyed the future has been due to lots of readily available energy and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-26592365165890413532011-03-10T21:09:58.137+00:002011-03-10T21:09:58.137+00:00Alex,
This nuclear lesson is very interesting and...Alex,<br /><br />This nuclear lesson is very interesting and the stuff on thorium is fascinating, but the point I was striving to make in this post wasn't so much to do with how wonderful nuclear power might or might not be, but that we potentially have ways to make a surplus of electricity by 2050, and how this might effect our plans for demand-side reductions. Everybody (me included) thinksMark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-82841867715781472882011-03-10T20:31:44.492+00:002011-03-10T20:31:44.492+00:00Blogger Alex877 said...
"To Cheap to Met...Blogger Alex877 said...<br /><br /> "To Cheap to Meter" refers to a 1954 speech by Lewis L. Strauss - the politically appointed head of the Atomic Energy Commission in the USA. He was actually talking with Fusion Energy in mind at a time when un-metered electricity was still in living memory.<br /><br /> The reason NP plants don't normally load follow is due to the fact that Alex877https://www.blogger.com/profile/02235347367201939646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-86449157029778581942011-03-10T13:08:39.867+00:002011-03-10T13:08:39.867+00:00@ Mark Brinkley said...
“All interesting points. ...@ Mark Brinkley said...<br /><br />“All interesting points. Like you, Ed, I'm no "fan" of nuclear (I doubt many people are - it's hard to get excited about a technology with a history like this - talk about baggage!)“<br /><br />Nuclear today is producing the energy equivalent of 12 million barrels of oil each day - the output of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait combined, not including Alex877https://www.blogger.com/profile/02235347367201939646noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-49436201607845264012011-03-10T09:30:10.031+00:002011-03-10T09:30:10.031+00:00It won't work, the grid will crash every time ...It won't work, the grid will crash every time it gets cold. We'd need 200-300 GW of new plant. <br /><br />Norway has a problem heating electrically even with lots of hydro, they even heat large buildings with oil (oil?!!) at times of peak demand and still it sometimes fails to meet demand. <br /><br />Also the Finnish and French nuke prototypes are way over time and over budget and Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-23237189644771634692011-03-10T08:31:30.246+00:002011-03-10T08:31:30.246+00:00"too cheap to meter" I recall.
My feeli..."too cheap to meter" I recall.<br /><br />My feeling was that the ease of producing nuclear and wind power in the model was completely unrealistic. If the model says it's that easy, which it plainly isn't, the model has to be wrong.<br /><br />Meanwhile demand reduction hardly existed - the best you could do with personal transport was keep mileage down to current levels - so Alan Clarkenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-51111176130037788862011-03-10T06:50:08.413+00:002011-03-10T06:50:08.413+00:00All interesting points. Like you, Ed, I'm no &...All interesting points. Like you, Ed, I'm no "fan" of nuclear (I doubt many people are - it's hard to get excited about a technology with a history like this - talk about baggage!) but maybe it's a case of needs must.<br /><br />I understand that the Indians are building trial thorium reactors (because they have a lot of thorium) so we will soon have something tangible to Mark Brinkleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03473684038478246288noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-77989075626755282522011-03-09T21:34:47.788+00:002011-03-09T21:34:47.788+00:00I'm not a fan of nuclear myself. I've no s...I'm not a fan of nuclear myself. I've no strong opinion one way or the other on whether it <i>can</i> be done safely: talk of 3rd and 4th generation reactors is intriguing but I don't know enough to judge and I for historical reasons I simply don't trust the industry to be at all honest about the downsides or the government to regulate it properly.<br /><br />There's lots of Ed Davieshttp://edavies.me.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-76700481295698591882011-03-09T14:37:03.679+00:002011-03-09T14:37:03.679+00:00Aside from the nuclear waste issue I think there i...Aside from the nuclear waste issue I think there is one big problem with Nuclear, that Prof Mackay made in his book. Principally that you cannot turn it off very quickly.<br /><br />Nuclear could be used to supply the background base load but we will always need to be able to react quickly to changes in demand, and nuclear isn't the solution to this.<br /><br />Many more pumped storage Mark Bennettnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-30932944235706164462011-03-09T11:25:31.345+00:002011-03-09T11:25:31.345+00:00The problem of signing up to the nuclear option is...<i>The problem of signing up to the nuclear option is (for a housing blog) that it makes an awful lot of the demand-reduction stuff (which is my meat and drink) redundant. No more worrying about insulation and airtightness, nor about heat pumps or biomass or district heating.</i><br /><br />But just imagine - housing blogs could then concentrate on so much more fun stuff than insulation and commentorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10321173541321374705noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14798090.post-78065525703059653462011-03-09T10:59:06.965+00:002011-03-09T10:59:06.965+00:00Agree
I think the whole "Green" thing i...Agree<br /><br />I think the whole "Green" thing is being very over hyped - with every Yin there is a Yan<br /><br />I am waiting for the Yan of green and maybe this is itFrancis - Irelandnoreply@blogger.com