08-27-2023, 07:33 PM
(08-27-2023, 03:20 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Sounds like the best answer is still to design and build some modernized nuclear power plants (there has to be some significant upgrades we can make from the 1950s designs, no? Improved material technology at the very least) if we want reliable energy without oil and coal. Not sure how else they are going to meet energy needs with all the push for electric cars, electric stoves, and heat pumps if commercial fusion is that far away.
I don't know what they've been doing the last 20 years. Certainly wasn't because people thought fusion was just around the corner. IMO, renewables have exceeded all but the most optimistic expectations, so I don't think people were sitting around waiting for renewables to take over, either. But nuclear also isn't cheap, so maybe the fracking boom crowded out nuclear investment.
I think the bigger issue is cheap energy, and barring new discoveries or innovations, fossil fuels procurement will eventually become too expensive and lead to permanent global contractions until an alternative is found. 30 years? 50 or 100 years? I don't know. But now that we're starting to see some projects in the works and the narrative shifting on nuclear, maybe there's growing concern that day could be uncomfortably close. Maybe Ukraine was both a reminder about the importance of energy independence, but also how fragile the balance of energy supply & demand is.
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