Friedrich Merz, head of the newly elected winning German coalition, proposes a fundamental shift in energy policy by rethinking Germany's nuclear approach and initiating a major expansion of thermal energy facilities.
Ted Nordhaus is a highly respected expert who, as executive director of the Breakthrough Institute, has been on the bleeding edge of those pushing more effective solutions to our energy and environmental woes for decades. His opinion piece, "In Global Energy Crisis, Anti-Nuclear Chickens Come Home to Roost," he provides a bold assessment of how badly the progressive agenda for climate has performed. Wherever "green" policies hold sway and nuclear power plants have been closed, clean electricity has been replaced with dirty power.
Contrary to what many people think, the rapid growth of renewable energy has led largely to increases in emissions, sky-high electricity prices and the loss of some of our most critical clean energy assets, which have caused power shortages and life-threatening energy crises. Germany, which persists in closing its nuclear power plants, has been reduced to decimating ancient forests and villages in its desperate pursuit of new coal resources for the resulting surge in demand for coal power.
California has been forced to build new gas plants and to demand that utilities with backup diesel generators, operate them non-stop when demand is high and renewable generation is down—not the outcome that those who support renewables want to see. In particular, the planned closure of Diablo Canyon, which was approved with the hope that its generation would be replaced by renewables, is nowhere near on track to do so. As a result, the CPUC is both bending and breaking rules to enable coal and gas to replace the clean generation provided by Diablo, while planned geothermal and battery storage are taking longer than had been assumed. Nordhaus calls out the "Pollyannish assumptions" and unrealistic plans that find California in the position of prematurely shuttering its largest single source of clean energy, only to add back more fossil power, to the delight of the fossil fuel industry.
Nordhaus doesn't explicitly ask "How's them chickens?" but you can almost hear him pose that question to those who read this assessment and care to adddress climate change with smart, effective solutions.
Read Foreign Policy's In Global Energy Crisis, Anti-Nuclear Chickens Come Home to Roost, by Ted Nordhaus, published October 8, 2021.
Published by Nucleation Capital in Anti-nuclear campaign, Brilliant thinkers, Carbon emissions, Climate change, Climate mayhem, Climate policy, Future of Energy, LINKS
Automotive News Europe reported on the conversation held in Germany with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and the publisher, Alex Springer, on the future of electric cars. Musk opined that the world's electric grid would need to at least double in size to accomodate all of the electric vehicles that he and Tesla are planning to sell. Even though he took the time to tout the growth of solar (especially his own), wind (with a nod to German engineering), and battery back-up systems (especially his own), nevertheless, Musk acknowledged quite courageously that he actually supports nuclear power as well.
As reported in Automotive News Europe's article, Musk says EVs will double electric demand; Tesla would consider merger, "Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that electricity consumption will double if the world's vehicle fleets are electrified, increasing the need to expand nuclear, solar, geothermal and wind energy generating sources."
Specifically, Musk state:
"Uh, I'm actually, uh, not against, uh, nuclear. I know that, ah, some people don't like nuclear but, I think actually nuclear, in a situation where there's not, uh, natural disasters, is actually fine. Um, You know I don't think we should have nuclear in a place that has lots of earthquakes, tsunamies or something like that, or big hurricanes with a name, but, uh, in places where natural disasters are not a big concern, I think that nuclear is very safe.
We find this is an exceptionally brave and even impressive thing for him to say, however apologetically expressed, as he endeavors to woo the German people to purchase Teslas. The German Green Party has turned strongly against its nuclear power and has largely ignored the voices of the pronuclear, pro-clean energy community in Germany. Yet, there was Musk, in front of an audience that was entirely German, wading into that battle zone with his eyes wide open. Given how artfully strategic Musk can be, it makes you wonder why.
This article did not come with a link to the talk, which was recorded, but we were able to find a video of the conversation, which had been corrected from what had been a totally inaudible conversation because of loud background music. Click the image below to access the snippet of Musk's comments involving nuclear energy.
https://youtu.be/nu_R8_Y5Vxs
Published by Nucleation Capital in Brilliant thinkers, Energy abundance, Future of Energy, History-making, LINKS, Nuclear innovation, Zero emission energy
Kärnfull Energi is a new, hip and very climate-focused Swedish utility that recently launched offering Swedes a 100% nuclear energy option. They are neither building nor generating new nuclear power, rather their service works much the way that U.S. based community choice aggregators (CCAs) in the U.S. work in offering ratepayers a 90% renewables option. Kärnfull buys certificates that guarantee the nuclear origin of electricty being supplied to its customers.
Kärnfull brand and product offering appeals strongly to young, science-savvy, and predominantly urban Swedes, who are the people most concerned about climate change and least afflicted with fears of or aversion to nuclear, which is characteristic of older generations. The world has woken up to the problems of climate change and habitat destruction. The scientific community tells us we need nuclear power. The public senses that renewables alone won’t save us.
Christian Sjolander and John Ahlberg, the founders aren’t nuclear engineers, but they are proud that Sweden has long supported nuclear power. They watched as neighbouring Germany failed miserably with Energiewende, locking in fossil gas and coal for the foreseeable future. "We didn’t want to let that happen here in Sweden.”
They knew that, in Sweden at least, there was significant public support for nuclear power (with 71% of people positive about it). Though exisiting utilities implictly sold nuclear electricity, all the hype was around 100% renewables products. No one was offering a 100% nuclear electricity tariff, so there was a gap in the market. Now they are the fastest-growing utility in Sweden.
Read more in "Viral Growth of Swedish Startup Is Making Nuclear Energy Cool."
Published by Nucleation Capital in Brilliant thinkers, Corporate decarbonization, Energy abundance, LINKS, Nuclear competitiveness, Nuclear R&D, Private companies, Pro-nuclear campaign
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