lol
Maybe we need a renewable energy thread? I sent this to @Torc as a PM 22 hours ago in response to his post…
I am not against nuclear power, it makes total sense for this country, but unfortunately we are about twenty years too late to replace the coal plants that are past end of life.
The only thing that can provide the power we need in the time frame to bring down emissions to a level we need are renewables. Wind and solar farms are an eyesore and blot on the landscape, but I think we need to be bold and ramp up offshore wind, expand the use of all the household solar (we already have the highest level of take-up in the world) with mandated rooftop panels AND batteries. Batteries/storage is the key, as someone who has lived off-grid for over a decade I understand better than most that generation is easy, storage (baseload in the case of the national grid) is the difficult part of the equation.
All I will add to that is that economists (who I generally categorise alongside lawyers for the harm they cause) are saying that Nuclear is not economically viable, but solar and wind are. I would also add that mandatory installation of household panels and batteries should be at zero cost to the property owner, or they pay zero for their electricity and costs are recouped from industry.