[belorn]

If you are going renewables there are two rules that must be followed.

1: You can not use fossil fuels when the weather or demand changes.

2: Any renewable storage combination must be cheaper than nuclear.

The first step is the easy step. Make a law that outlaws energy generated by fossil fuel to be connected to the main grid. We can start forming that law today. Fossil fuels are several order more expensive than renewables, kills an untold number of people every day, shorten lifespans, and destroys the planet. No one should bother using it for energy.

[forum_ghost]

How do you measure "cheaper than nuclear"? How much is a life of a dead 10 year old cobalt miner worth in accounting terms? Whatever the price of a coffin is in Africa? What about the ecosystem destruction such mining causes, who is going to put the dollar figure on that?

I don't think we even have enough proven mineral reserves to supply sufficient battery storage to supplement the renewable aka unreliable grid, and hydro dams aren't always right nearby to pump the storage. Long haul transmission eats up huge chunks of generated energy too.

I don't get this weird fetish with fields upon fields of solar panels and windmills, vs a relatively very tiny building that produces gigawatts constantly for several decades.

Why is it better to destroy ecosystems, to destroy fields and kill birds? Just to assuage some irrational phobia around the same thing that's literally heating the Earth's crust?