Comments on: While Europe & China Put Nuclear Energy on Hold, Will U.S. Learn from the Catastrophe in Japan? http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/ Clean Tech News & Views: Solar Energy News. Wind Energy News. EV News. & More. Mon, 29 Dec 2014 06:32:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1 By: Nate Green http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95566 Thu, 24 Mar 2011 20:19:34 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95566 Wind and solar energy have been built out because of large federal and state subsidies. This last year people thought the subsidies would disappear and new wind farm development crashed. With the technological innovation being reported for both of these they won’t need the subsidies for very long. GE has recently bought a new crane system that will significantly lower the cost for wind power. GE also believes their solar systems are close to being economically viable. My problem with both of these technologies is the power is hit or miss. If you put in sodium batteries to store the power that doubles the cost of the power produced. If you don’t have sodium batteries to store power then when the solar power or wind power isn’t available you have to use coal or natural gas. Aren’t we going to always have to have a backup power source? We also don’t have the power line network to be able to move power around the country when needed.

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95536 Wed, 23 Mar 2011 10:00:42 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95536 Nate, I have to say that I disagree with you on a number of points here.

1) that wind and solar are not economically viable: wind and solar have grown tremendously in the last 10 years (http://earthandindustry.com/2011/03/cleantech-investment-rose-considerably-in-2010-since-2000/) and are definitely economically viable in many places. wind power is now cost-competitive with coal in a number of regions & some states are now supplying 20% to 25% of their electricity from wind power (http://cleantechnica.com/2011/01/10/u-s-wind-energy-2010-summary/). &, of course, we had the historic solar-nuclear cost crossover last year (http://cleantechnica.com/2010/08/01/historic-report-solar-energy-costs-now-lower-than-nuclear-energy/).

2) the idea that wind and solar shouldn’t get support from the government is faulty for a number of reasons. A) wind and solar should are the most environmentally friendly and since the market doesn’t adequately account for externalities related to that, the government should step it. B) fossil fuels and nucelar get a ton of support from the government — unless that support is dropped (not going to happen probably), wind and solar should get support, too. C) wind and solar are still fast-developing “new” technologies and support from the government to help them mature is necessary. even Republicans support this idea.

3) the environmental benefits of natural gas might have been grossly overstated (http://planetsave.com/2011/02/07/climate-benefits-of-natural-gas-overstated/) and while i think that won’t deter governments and industry from using it a ton more, i don’t think it is the “great” option it is made out to be. & public backlash may stunt its growth

4) as far as nuclear being far better than coal, you may be true. but the fact that nuclear waste will last longer than humans have existed makes me hesitant to accept that claim.

]]> By: Nate Green http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95532 Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:57:34 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95532 Wind power and solar power are not economically viable right now. In 5 to 10 years they will be economically viable but not right now. Republicans won’t support anything but nuclear energy so it is kind of futile to stalemate over policy forever. Congress should do what it can to make nuclear power safer and more affordable and that will make nuclear power more viable. Nuclear power however dangerous you think it is is still far better than coal power plants. They are making great advances in wind and solar power so I don’t think the government needs to support those industries. Natural gas will be the power plant of the future whether we like it or not. It is really cheap, abundant, and far cleaner than coal. Most of the new power plants planned are for natural gas. Nuclear power, solar, and wind will still be bit players in the future due to reliability and economic reasons.

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95498 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:14:15 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95498 Nate, sorry, I disagree on a few points here. Nuclear waste will have to be safely stored for how much longer than humans have even existed? & how will we do so? There have been serious negative effects from the nuclear plant failures in Japan — to deny so either means you haven’t kept up with the story or you have chosen to ignore the significant problems it is causing for hundreds of thousands of people or more.

reliability is a big issue that we see a lot of incorrect claims about — i’ll come back to that in a full post soon

]]> By: Nate Green http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95467 Mon, 21 Mar 2011 03:59:28 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95467 Those nuclear power plants in Japan made it through a 9.0 earthquake and a tsunami and they still haven’t melted down. They have passed the test with flying colors if you ask me. The reactors shut down like they were supposed to. The backup power source was supposed to take over to cool the reactors but they were destroyed by the tsunami. The problem is they were too stupid to protect the generators. I like solar power and wind mills but they are not the solution to our problems. They are a bit player. Wind and solar are not reliable. Thus making us build a whole new network of high powered power lines to transport power around the coutry. Not to mention we would have to come up with thousands of sodium batteries to store the energy on a large scale. Nuclear power is the only legitimate answer to global warming.

]]> By: March Madness in Congress – Planetsave.com: climate change and environmental news http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95414 Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:57:13 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95414 […] of Big, Old, Dirty Energy have assured us that there is nothing to learn from this incident and it should not influence nuclear policy. (Unfortunately, Obama is on board with that one as […]

]]> By: Energy Professionals Get It, Why Can’t Our Political Leaders? – CleanTechnica: Cleantech innovation news and views http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95360 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:50:31 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95360 […] OK, I’m still going on my rant about U.S. politicians…. […]

]]> By: Zachary Shahan http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95352 Fri, 18 Mar 2011 09:16:11 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95352 :D

I always wonder when I rant what kind of response I’ll get.. generally assume a negative one, so nice to get positive comments :D

Thank You

]]> By: paulo http://cleantechnica.com/2011/03/17/while-european-countries-put-nuclear-energy-on-hold-will-u-s-learn-from-the-catastrophe/#comment-95342 Thu, 17 Mar 2011 23:24:57 +0000 http://cleantechnica.com/?p=24589#comment-95342 Great rant!

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