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Originally Posted by Darwins Child
Again, I have worked in both fossil a nuclear power plants. The complexity of what is required to safely convert nuclear energy into electrical energy versus the complexity of what is required to convert fossil-fuel energy into electrical energy is astronomical. IMO, nuclear is light years from "fairly easy".
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Perhaps "easy" was a poor choice of words. We have the technology and are able to apply it to build reasonably safe reactors (nothing is 100% safe). Of course, there is the problem of spent fuel storage and disposal/recycling. And transmission/distribution problems will still be there no matter what fuel is used for generation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darwins Child
I'm not exactly sure what you men by "central plant", but if you mean a nuclear or natural gas power plant right smack dab in the center of a city, or smaller plants in say every neighborhood of a large city, the political and technical problems go up substantially, especially for nuclear.
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What I meant was a few large plants are more efficient (and cleaner) than many smaller ones. As you say, placing plants in dense urban areas is not a good solution.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darwins Child
IMO, with efficiency losses in production and transmission, as well as the acknowledged need for heated vehicles, it makes good economic sense to burn the natural gas right in a vehicle's internal combustion engine, just as one can do this very day, albeit with some serious motivation. The problems with electrical transmission go bye bye, too.
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Many smaller sources will be less efficient than a few larger sources, even with transmission and distribution losses.
There are a lot of transmission/distribution costs involved with all fuels. Eg, oil has to be moved from field to refinery, refinery to gas station, and gas station to consumer. There is no free lunch.
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Originally Posted by Darwins Child
Agree 100%. The easiest way to accomplish this is encouraging people to have fewer children.
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+1. Not easy but, yes, probably the easiest.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Darwins Child
The problem is that whatever you want to call the present economic system. ...
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Can't say that I agree with your analysis of the situation ... but I can't say you are wrong.
