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A comment on Extinction Rebellion: Nuclear power 'only option' says former spokeswoman. Parent comment

Re:Extinction Rebellion: Nuclear power 'only option' says fo... by pjc50 on Friday September 11, 2020 @05:49AM (#24440876)
The UK managed something like 5% -> 25% renewables in the past 10 years; complete decarbonisation of electricity isn't really possible in 10 years, but I'm cautiously optimistic. Especially as the price has fallen so dramatically; large areas of the US are ripe for cheap solar.
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Re:Extinction Rebellion: Nuclear power 'only option' says fo... by dispat0r on Friday September 11, 2020 @06:04AM (#24440964)
As mentioned by topbanana you need storage for renewables. No good solution at the moment for that problem.
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Re:Extinction Rebellion: Nuclear power 'only option' says fo... by pjc50 on Friday September 11, 2020 @06:07AM (#24440988)
.. but we've already done that 5 to 25% increase. Without significant storage. Storage will be needed to get to 100%, but we've already displaced all the coal generation with renewables! (and, I admit, some gas)

Don't let the best be the enemy of the good. Keep expanding the renewables until 0-carbon moments are possible and curtailment starts to be a problem. Maybe 50%?

(or, in meme format: noooo, you can't just replace everything with renewables! haha wind turbine go brrr)

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Re:Extinction Rebellion: Nuclear power 'only option' says fo... by ryathal on Friday September 11, 2020 @08:53AM (#24442201)
The 5% -> 25% was literally the easiest part. The big expensive downsides to renewables really aren't a factor. Intermittency is minor when you can fall back on 75%, if there's only 50% to fall back on that's a problem.
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