Re:California to open five natural gas plants to avoid black...
by ben_w on Thursday September 02, 2021 @08:22AM
(#28391194)
> How many more decades before we can replace that with a renewable option?
Roughly one. According to Wikipedia, the US added 35 GW of each of PV and wind between 2016 and 2020, and has 95 GW of nuclear. Accounting for capacity factor, the quantity of renewables TWh produced roughly doubled, and is currently 14% vs. 20% for nuclear, but (worldwide at least) renewables are close to an exponential trend.
The main constraint the USA should have here is storage and/or long-distance transmission.
Such is exponential growth.
Though you’re right: needlessly closing nuclear reactors is bad for the environment as the most important problem right now is the CO2. Coal needs to go first, then oil, then natural gas.
Roughly one. According to Wikipedia, the US added 35 GW of each of PV and wind between 2016 and 2020, and has 95 GW of nuclear. Accounting for capacity factor, the quantity of renewables TWh produced roughly doubled, and is currently 14% vs. 20% for nuclear, but (worldwide at least) renewables are close to an exponential trend.
The main constraint the USA should have here is storage and/or long-distance transmission.
Such is exponential growth.
Though you’re right: needlessly closing nuclear reactors is bad for the environment as the most important problem right now is the CO2. Coal needs to go first, then oil, then natural gas.