Current renewable costs quoted are generally the cost when the sun is shining or the wind is blowing (which is about 30% and 45% on average in most places). The other times, we're burning fracked natural gas. This is highly warming fossil fuel from pipeline leaks (methane) and from combustion (CO2).
Nuclear proponents questioning the economic viability of civilian nuclear power is extremely well documented from 1945 to about 1965, after which it did well for about 4 years before falling into a wild ride of a comparison with coal (also increasing in price due to air pollution controls in the 1970s) and more recently with natural gas. At the moment, France's standardized nuclear fleet is about 20% cheaper than natural gas. Not too shabby. Certainly worth deploying to help, you know, save the planet. Some builds in the West have been bad. Many have been good. We understand today how to make them all good: pick a design and build a lot of them.
How do you feel about the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) of renewable energy systems as energy storage system fraction ramps up? This paper [1] says it drops from 12:1 down to 3:1 and then stabilizes at 5:1, well below what's often quoted as necessary to sustain industrialized civilization.
[1] Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, et. al, Dynamic Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) and material requirements in scenarios of global transition to renewable energies, Energy Strategy Reviews,
Volume 26, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2019.100399.
Nuclear proponents questioning the economic viability of civilian nuclear power is extremely well documented from 1945 to about 1965, after which it did well for about 4 years before falling into a wild ride of a comparison with coal (also increasing in price due to air pollution controls in the 1970s) and more recently with natural gas. At the moment, France's standardized nuclear fleet is about 20% cheaper than natural gas. Not too shabby. Certainly worth deploying to help, you know, save the planet. Some builds in the West have been bad. Many have been good. We understand today how to make them all good: pick a design and build a lot of them.
How do you feel about the Energy Return On Investment (EROI) of renewable energy systems as energy storage system fraction ramps up? This paper [1] says it drops from 12:1 down to 3:1 and then stabilizes at 5:1, well below what's often quoted as necessary to sustain industrialized civilization.
[1] Iñigo Capellán-Pérez, et. al, Dynamic Energy Return on Energy Investment (EROI) and material requirements in scenarios of global transition to renewable energies, Energy Strategy Reviews, Volume 26, 2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esr.2019.100399.