Be careful about making claims when you aren’t sure that you can back them up. If challenged then produce facts or withdraw your claim. Don’t continue to make claims you can’t support.

2. You have failed to provide documentation for your claim that winds have moved 200 miles north after multiple requests to do so.

3. Whatever the reasons, it takes 10 or more years to build a new nuclear reactor in the US or on Europe. Those years allow interest to compound which makes the cost of new reactors very expensive.

4. There are no “smaller, far safer new nukles”. No one is building any. And because no one has built a “smaller” reactor we have no cost data.
5. The deal to build a new reactor in Finland is falling apart. The number of years and budget overrun for the Olkiluoto reactor is probably playing a big role in that happening along with the deteriorating financial conditions for nuclear.

6. Wind farms do not get a 30% tax credit and a 2% PCT. It’s a ‘one or the other’ choice.

7. Subsidies are not included in LCOE calculations.

8. If you look at this map you will see that there are significant numbers of wind turbines east of the Mississippi. It is a fact that most of our best onshore wind resources are west if the Mississippi, but there is also a considerable amount on the east side.

http://www.windpoweringamerica.gov/wind_installed_capacity.asp

9. In the first half of 2012 wind produced 3.5% of all US electricity. I think that qualifies wind as a “power producer”.

Now, please produce the data to back up your wind claim.

Please list those “Most other places do it in 3yrs. or so” nuclear builds.

I accept the fact that we’re going to use a lot of natural gas while we wait for more affordable storage to crowd it out. Most generation decisions are made on economic grounds, not what is best for the environment.

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First, private money will finance gas plants. Private money will not finance nuclear reactors unless taxpayers assume the risk. And we’re also seeing that taxpayer risk assumption is not enough. Reactor companies are now starting to ask for guaranteed prices for their output, asking to be protected from market prices.

It takes roughly ten years to build a nuclear reactor. During those many years the borrowed money is accumulating interest. Natural gas plants take less years to build. Wind farms are built in less than two years, sometimes in less than one. Large rooftop solar arrays are installed in weeks.

The faster generation goes into production the less its cost is hurt by accumulated debt.

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China has cut back its nuclear build plans. The US has cut back its nuclear build plans. Most of Europe will build no more. Japan is finished building. I have no idea where “plenty of others to take it’s place” are going to appear.

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Again, please furnish documentation for your claim that winds have shifted 200 miles north. Tap dancing does not qualify.

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If you know anything about the wind industry you will realize that turbine size is increasing because larger turbines are more efficient.

There are some limited areas where the winds are lighter. The industry is dealing with this by installing larger blades, not smaller turbines.

———– Small Wind gens are as eff as bigger ones in fact more so in many areas because the big ones don’t start producing until higher wind speeds they aere designed forthan small wind does.
———$2k/kw for nuke has the same financing cost as a $2k/kw NG plant. Prove otherwise.
———– Your link abouit nukes in Europe was about EON getting out of the nuke business. There are plenty of others to take it’s place.
———- Just look at plant zonal changes that have moved as far too. Weather has changed, deal with it. Ask any old time farmer who can no longer plant the same crops because of this. Ask any seed company or garden supply.
——— Facts are no one knows exactly how it will change but we know it has. Thus all historical data is suspect. No?
——– Just look at most recent wind data at your local airport, etc and compare it to the historical average. Facts are when 100 yr storms, floods, etc happen every few yrs means they are no longer 100 yr storms, etc.

2. Small wind turbines are inefficient.

3. Nuclear is too expensive to be considered. “$2k/kw” is overnight cost, and a low-ball cost.. The cost of financing essentially doubles the cost of nuclear. Small, inexpensive nuclear reactors are an idea, not a reality.

Please furnish a source for your claim ” climate change which has greatly shifted wind flow moving north in general about 2-300 miles”.

http://powershift.anetce.com/wind_maps_050525.htm

Transmission does have cost. To make a blanket statement that transmission costs “as much as the wind farm in many cases” is something that needs documentation. But let’s assume that you are accurate and not just blowing smoke, what would that mean?

The LCOE of wind in the US is currently $0.05/kWh. If transmission actually doubled that number we’d be looking at a dime per kWh. That’s well under the cost of new nuclear power. And nuclear comes with its own transmission costs.

Again, nuclear is so expensive that it is not being built except with government money. The nuclear industry is winding down.

——–Actually they, lead cooled nuke ones have been running since the earliest nuke days powering submarines. While nothing including wind is completely safe, these simple, smaller nukes are far, far better than the pressurized water reactors/PWR we have now that should be replaced by better ones soon.

———The good thing about these lead cooled ones is they use up nuke waste as fuel getting rid of it which I like to see.
——– Let’s welcome all reasonably safe low/non polluting energy sources as we need all of them to get rid of coal, PWR’s, our biggest threats.

Smaller nukes are an idea. They haven’t appeared in the real world and are not likely to do so. They certainly won’t produce cheap electricity.

The entire nuclear industry is in trouble. Even existing plants are having problems competing with much cheaper wind and natural gas.

And, please, no more about nuclear being safe. It is not. Nuclear requires extraordinary efforts to keep us from getting fried and those efforts are sometimes not enough.