Another Note to the Pro-Nuke People

Predictably, the pro-nuke group of which I’m a part took issue with my defense of renewable energy. They pointed out that a) one single member does not speak for the group as a whole, b) there are some really bright people in the group, and most significantly, c) the only positive aspect of wind energy lies in the subsidies it receives from the government; it’s totally incapable of making a real difference on the planet. This prompting me to write:
Thanks for this. I erred in the respect that “you” are not a unanimous group; I’m sure there are important variances in your positions on RE. Having said that, those who actively write to the group (not for the group) seem to share the idea that renewables need to be attacked rather than supported, or even tolerated. And btw, I have an enormous amount of respect for the intellectual horsepower of these people; if I didn’t, I most certainly wouldn’t be spending my time writing things like this.

Back to the subject at hand, there are other ways of looking at this:

Wind is already adding great value at its current level, a level that is expanding every year. It’s ~5% of the US grid mix as we speak, offsetting a huge amount of coal. You mentioned Denmark, a unique case I’ll grant, but one that has wind power coming out its ears.

Wind is incredibly cheap. There were PPAs signed last year for less than $0.03/kWh. I’ll grant that these are isolated cases in which supply exceeds demand, but they get larger every year, and I think it’s an important data point nonetheless. You folks know far more about the cost-related elements of nuclear than I do, but you must admit that it has a nasty reputation for over-running its budgets.

The concept that wind needs enormous amounts of natural gas back-up is erroneous. Please see this article linked here.

Energy density is one of perhaps 20 components that determine the legitimacy of a technology, and it’s one that I would put fairly far down the ladder. This is illustrated here. We receive 6000 times more power from the sun than all 7.3 billion of us are consuming; it’s hard to believe that technology in 2016 can’t get this done (not to mention that this technology is improving every day).

Thanks very much for listening.

Respectfully,

Craig