this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Solar power expected to dominate electricity generation by 2050—even without more ambitious climate policies (techxplore.com)
submitted 1 year ago by L4s to c/technology
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Solar power expected to dominate electricity generation by 2050—even without more ambitious climate policies::In pursuit of the ambitious goal of reaching net-zero emissions, nations worldwide must expand their use of clean energy sources. In the case of solar energy, this change may already be upon us.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Nuclear does not help. It has nothing to do with safety issues (perceived or otherwise), and everything to do with economics. It has not solved its cost issues, and probably won't.

Solar and wind want to be mixed with some other tech that can ramp up when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing. Nuclear wants to stay at a steady pace all day long. They don't work together. What will happen is to increase the times when solar and wind are overproducing and have to be shut off, thereby cutting into their economic advantages.

Fortunately, we don't have to go all out with solar and wind. Getting to 95% solar and wind with a modest amount of storage capacity is fully achievable in less than a decade. Gas/coal plants would be turned on for a tiny fraction of the year. Getting that last 5% will take longer, but just getting that far will be a huge change.

There is no reasonable plan that gets us nuclear in less than a decade. SMRs are not going to be in full production before then. Traditional nuclear plants have taken at least 10 years to build after serious budget and schedule overruns. If you had all the permits signed and ready to go today, you would not be able to do it.

Now, I do hope we start putting SMRs in some less traditional places, like ships.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Now, I do hope we start putting SMRs in some less traditional places, like ships.

Interesting...