> By 2050, the world will need nearly three times as much power as we use today
This feels like a "no one needs more than 640k of RAM"^ kind of comment.
Only triple? In 24 years? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the transition from fossil fuels to renewables where we're replacing one source for another as opposed to increasing the power use, but it does feel like the demand for power, especially with Data Centres in the current news cycle, would take us 10x in "the shortest amount of time it's possible to 10x power generation".
> Fusion: Once the technology is fully commercialized within the next decade
I don't really want to say it, but isn't the joke that fusion been a decade away for 50 years?
^I know this is not quite what was said, I'm just using it for reference.
I don't understand this love affair with nuclear energy, especially in a country full of sunny deserts. Cover a fraction of it in solar panels coupled with sodium batteries, and the problem is solved. But for some reason this idea is not being considered seriously. Why?
I understand in the 50's we needed reactors to create plutonium to fend off russians.
I understand in the 80's the solar panels were expensive.
But now, when the panels are cheap and lithium batteries are cost competitive and sodium batteries are being actively developed (and already put into cars), there is simply no excuse.
19 comments
> By 2050, the world will need nearly three times as much power as we use today
This feels like a "no one needs more than 640k of RAM"^ kind of comment.
Only triple? In 24 years? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the transition from fossil fuels to renewables where we're replacing one source for another as opposed to increasing the power use, but it does feel like the demand for power, especially with Data Centres in the current news cycle, would take us 10x in "the shortest amount of time it's possible to 10x power generation".
> Fusion: Once the technology is fully commercialized within the next decade
I don't really want to say it, but isn't the joke that fusion been a decade away for 50 years?
^I know this is not quite what was said, I'm just using it for reference.
I understand in the 50's we needed reactors to create plutonium to fend off russians.
I understand in the 80's the solar panels were expensive.
But now, when the panels are cheap and lithium batteries are cost competitive and sodium batteries are being actively developed (and already put into cars), there is simply no excuse.
Why then?