Pragmatic energy production

[sendler]

Poverty and energy scarcity strongly correlate, along with poor health and poor nutrition. Energy truly is the lifeblood of civilization. And population will continue to explode as fossil fuels slowly dwindle. Be pragmatic...Let’s Run the Numbers – Nuclear Energy vs. Wind and Solar | The Energy Reality Project

[Frank Lee]

Poor guys sure put a lot of work into calculating B.S., No mention whatsoever of the concept of CONSERVATION which could render much much generating capacity moot.

[oil pan 4]

Molten salt reactors it is.
Since we don't even know if there is enough of the stuff needed to make enough solar panels to power the world.
We know there is plenty of thorium.

[Ecky]

Gates has been behind this idea for a while now. He's pouring a lot of money into designing a new generation of nuclear reactors, and says he believes in giving economical clean energy to the poorest in the world.

[redpoint5]

Correlation does not equal causation.

I could correlate a million things that track with energy consumption, poverty, or health.

It's a chicken and egg correlation anyhow. Does lack of energy cause poverty, or does poverty cause lack of energy?

We can safely assume that having wealth provides the opportunity to accumulate even more of it. It's the wealthy people who can afford to have energy (money) saving things such as newer homes with better insulation, newer fuel efficient cars, etc. Heck, we even subsidize the rich by providing a $7,500 tax credit if they buy an EV!

[Phantom]

I would like to see more Nuclear power plants in production. With the different advancements that have been made in the last few years. Such as ultra high temp reactors where the coolant is the reactant so if it starts to over heat the coolant boils off and stops/slows the reaction until the coolant condenses. I remember reading that some of the newer reactors can use the spent fuel from older reactors as its' fuel.
(No sources as it is from memory)

With that said I will be installing PV and solar heaters on the roof of me next home along with a battery bank.

[sendler]

From the article:
It would cost over $29 Trillion to generate America’s baseload electric power with a 50 / 50 mix of wind and solar farms, on parcels of land totaling the area of Indiana. Or:
It would cost over $18 Trillion with Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) farms in the southwest deserts, on parcels of land totaling the area of West Virginia. Or:
We could do it for less than $3 Trillion with AP-1000 Light Water Reactors, on parcels totaling a few square miles. Or:
We could do it for $1 Trillion with liquid-fueled Molten Salt Reactors, on the same amount of land, but with no water cooling, no risk of meltdowns, and the ability to use our stockpiles of nuclear “waste” as a secondary fuel.

[sendler]

MSR is almost here. Too bad it looks like Chinese scientists will end up owning the rights to the technology.
.
Molten Salt Reactors - World Nuclear Association
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[oil pan 4]

Our DoE is still stuck in cold war mode, where all the nuclear reactors we use produce fuel for nuclear weapons as a by product.
Any attempts to change this paradigm have been squashed by "budget cuts".

[MobilOne]

Haven't the French been using thorium reactors?