Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Latest Breaking News
In reply to the discussion: Georgia nuclear plant's cost now forecast to top $30 billion [View all]GregariousGroundhog
(7,518 posts)30. Looking at insulating homes is somewhat short-sighted.
Homes only constitute 39% of electrical use and 12% of total energy use in the United States. From a greenhouse gas perspective, transportation and industry are the proverbial 800 pound gorillas. Good, bad, or indifferent, it looks like most automotive companies are going to be chasing Tesla into the electric car market and the electrical load that will be created by that transition will dwarf electrical use by homes.
A handy chart:
https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
54 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
you could buy 10,000 2MW wind turbines for that amount, no additional fuel costs
Blues Heron
May 2022
#1
Wind turbines actually impact the environment in other ways as you still need metal
cstanleytech
May 2022
#4
Maybe I am wrong but wasn't there also an issue with birds being killed by turbines?
cstanleytech
May 2022
#6
"The steel in them would require millions of tons of coal ... haul them away 20 years"
speak easy
May 2022
#16
Well, again, there are scientific references on the point, if one looks and if one recognizes scale.
NNadir
May 2022
#35
'Capacity' wrt wind power is not the same as 24/7 output like you get from a NPP
Hugh_Lebowski
May 2022
#33
just wanted to see how many windmills you could buy with that kind of money
Blues Heron
May 2022
#34
There's no excuse for costs like this. We KNOW how to build modern nuclear plants
oldsoftie
May 2022
#2
True. It also decentralizes the generation of power, making it less vulnerable to malefactors.
PSPS
May 2022
#12
The glorious "free market" is going to kill billions of us if we don't quit fossil fuels.
hunter
May 2022
#40
The waste problem is overblown. Compared to fossil fuel waste, the volume is manageable.
hunter
May 2022
#43
Interesting coincidence that you should mention how used nuclear fuel "just sits there".
TheRickles
May 2022
#50
I do not see nuclear as a "competitor" to renewables, nor vice versa.
Miguelito Loveless
May 2022
#54