Growth in german wind capacity is slowing. Soo… then the plan is to keep on with lignite and gas? Am I missing something?

Installed Wind Capacty - Germany

German Wind Capacity

  • I’ll cheerfully concede both of those statements, I just don’t think they result in you winning the argument.

    It’s not clear that we can build enough renewables fast enough, or that we can build storage capacity fast enough when we do; you cite vague studies that suggest we might be able to do, but that’s all they are. I’d rather not bet everything on that and then discover in 20 years that we made the wrong bet.

    According to the anti-nuclear group cited in one of your articles, nuclear produces about 4x the CO2 emissions of solar but 1/4 the emissions of natural gas. (1/8 those of coal) And it also assumes we can’t improve on that any, even though there is a tremendous amount of money + research going on right now on lowering CO2 emissions from construction materials like concrete and steel. (perhaps we don’t have any of those improvements up and running for in 20 years, but meanwhile those shiny nuclear plants are getting rid of 3/4 of the CO2 from the natural gas plants they’re replacing)

    • Ah, what a gentleman! Since you’ve been so sporting, I’ll indulge you.

      It’s not clear that we can build enough renewables fast enough

      You can go ahead and try to prove this statement false:

      • The total time taken to provision 1 GWh of nuclear electricity is considerably slower than the total time taken to provision 1GWh of common renewable sources of electricity.
      • Again, I’m arguing we do both. And anyway this is a volume question, not a construction time one (enough renewables fast enough) - I’m OK with waiting 20 years for new nuclear plants if in 20 years we get a fuckton of them.

        • You need lunch and you can choose between a nutritious and tasty $5 sandwich from an independent deli or a $10 expensive mass-produced sandwich from a chain. The independent deli is tastier, cheaper, and healthier, and it’s easier for you to get since it’s on your way to work.

          Or you could just get both for no good reason if you want I guess.

        • Hey, this you?

          It’s not clear that we can build enough renewables fast enough

          this is a volume question, not a construction time one (enough renewables fast enough)

          Woah! What happened to those goalposts? I could have sworn they were here a second ago.

          I’m gonna wait for your response to my other question to properly address this one since they’re so intrinsically linked.