Where is the Electricity going to come to charge EVs ?
- Thread starter alarmguy
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The roads and land around there are full of radiation. The Russians drove on them contaminating themselves with the dust. Then we have Japan with a bit of an issue too. I am all for nuclear, but not that way.
Agreed. It shows the reality of the situation and the application which isn’t great
I didn’t, no worries as they say these days.
The Maldives might have fit their model for a country that would benefit greatly from EVs. However they routinely get cyclones going through there and just in the past few weeks they had a bad one. Infrastructure takes a real beating there.
OVERKILL
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They are decent sized, but they aren't as big as you think they are. The section below the plant, after water, is where the switchyards were, I'll put it it in the picture:
You can see there's what appears to be the primary yard, which is more dense, directly below the plant, and then a large yard adjacent to it. Hard to make out what in the larger yard was switchgear, it may have mostly been transmission equipment, but I've included it in the area, so, that's 133 acres. If we include the whole plant, ~514 acres.
Here are a couple active plants for comparison:
Bruce B (3,300MW). This is similar to how the switchyard was at Chernobyl. This whole plant is around 105 acres.
Pickering, which was 4,160MW originally. Area is calculated including all outbuildings at 222 acres:
And Darlington, 3,512MW. It's switchyard is significantly set back from the plant, as can be seen. 270 acres:
Offshore wind will be the dominant solution, far less harmful to birds (especially with how large and relatively slow the blades are). Not that many birds flying around a dozen miles or more offshore. Not to mention they are far more efficient as there is more constant wind than onshore solutions, and no infrasound concerns to local residents. The main obstacle is NIMBYs who don't want their view of the ocean ruined by some distant windfarms.
As far as CA goes, a lot of the rolling blackout issue isn't necessarily a supply issue, specifically. There is some of that, but my understanding is a lot of the issue is due to the hot weather and high loads making the long distance high voltage lines sag from heating, putting them in danger distance of foliage and causing wildfires. That's PG&Es problem however and one they should address.
Not even just driving through them, though that was a huge part of it, since they kicked up radioactive dust which they then inhaled- the worst is that they were digging deep trenches in the worst contaminated areas. It's worse than it sounds even, because the topsoil isn't the worst part. Lots of radioactive trees, the topsoil from the time, and lots of other equipment etc was buried in that area. Meaning that in the process of digging not only did they disturb the topsoil they were digging straight down into the place where some of the most contaminated waste was buried. Talk about idiotic, you're talking huge whole-body doses over extended periods.
If nothing else I'm sad because I actually have seeing the exclusion zone on my bucket list, thanks to the STALKER games, being a history nerd and a nuclear supporter and the whole.... situation... makes it unlikely I'd be able to visit for a long time. Truly first world problems however.
As you can see in the below videos, the surface level radiation is high but not exactly dangerous for shorter periods. Going a meter or so off the road the radiation level climbs extremely fast but again for short periods of time not deadly or particularly harmful (still in the microsievert/hr range). But kicking up dust and breathing said dust in, and then digging extensively in trenches for days/weeks surrounded by radioactive material is near suicidal. The inverse square law means that if there is a piece of highly radioactive material the further away you get from it, the lower the dose. This means you can hold a piece of radioactive material for a short time and be totally fine, because it's most likely only a high dose on a small part of your body. Cumulative dose is what matters. This topic honestly deserves it's own thread.
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As if none of what they are saying is uncolored by political influence. There is no such thing as unbiased analysis.
Yep. Those windmills everywhere are an eyesore.
They won't be around for long if sea level keeps rising.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
just what type of technology + investments does one need to come up with to create the path to a $9 per month bill?
Totally can believe it. Just wonder how much and how long it took to accomplish?
I did some work to my present home over the last 22 years to knock my power bill in half with just insulation and shade from
oak trees and double windows. People can find saving in lots of ways if they just try. Congrats on your accomplishment for sure.
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I remember my radioactive decay lab for physics 7B at UC Berkeley. Really enlightening. There was a sign on the door saying that it wasn't advised for pregnant women to stay there, and that one might ask to be excused. The radiation source was actually plutonium/beryllium, encased in a galvanized steel trash can filled with paraffin. They had metal tubes to reach the plutonium source. We actually used silver ingots attached by a string. The silver would absorb neutrons, and then we would monitor the rate of particles through a reader.
I had a little down time and we had some expensive particle reader there. The lab assistants said we had nothing to worry about as the average exposure was pretty low. I sampled it near the door and got little clicks, but when I got close to the can it just sounded like popcorn popping. I decided that it was best to avoid standing next to the can more than I had to.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
feels like we very close to Mad Max than ever before
Well I think he said he paid 17k for it. So if it has a 20 year life, then you amortize that over the life of the system. You really need to normalize by figuring out how much it would be with a no money down analysis which is basically what a regular monthly electric bill is. If you put 17k in the stock market and average 10% over 20 years, is your bill really $9 a month? On the other hand, borrow 17k and amortize it over 15 years at say 3% back in the day, you're still paying $117 a month for 15 years.
It's gotta come from Nuclear or Natural Gas as coal is phased out. Gonna take 25 to 40 years for a smooth transition. Toyota Camry recharges it's battery by braking, so, no Electrical Grid use. Toyota hybrids are a nice transition vehicle. Pun. Jmo
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Both equals for me
Solar panel systems have been big in CA and Silicon Valley for a long time. Energy costs are high and there is lotsa sun. We live in a small town, Los Gatos, at the foot of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Solar projects are expensive, but have come way down. In later 2017 I started to get serious; Costco Sunrun was offering a compelling story. I ultimately contracted with Infinity Solar. The new roof and panels were installed in Feb 2018.
Solar System $17K + Full Reroof $12.4K = $29.4K The Federal tax credit was 30% or almost $9K as I recall, but I think I got more than that. I don't really remember... I did not qualify for the CA state benefit as I exceeded the income limit. Basically I paid $12K for the solar and got a premium roof for under $9K. I am sure prices are thousands lower now. I expect to get 25 years out of the system as I bought newest panel technology and top quality components.
I did the project for several reasons.
- 1st it was a hedge against rising energy costs. Score! Heck wifey saves $50 per week alone using the Tesla for her work commute.
- I knew I would use the AC more and more energy in general as I would retire in a few years.
- It raised the value of our home, but you don't buy a home here, you buy the zip code.
- I figured I might buy an EV someday; I bought the Tesla late in 2018.
- I wanted to go green. I hate PG&E and might get a house battery and go off their grid.
Solar is the biggest no brainer around here. My solar project has turned out to be a solid investment. I live for peanuts nowadays.
In fact, new housing projects are required to have solar. They do everything with electricity. No gas water heater, stove, house heater. With the economy of scale and mass production installation, the incremental cost of the solar is minimized. Heck of a way to go.
I wouldn't use stock market as the opportunity cost, it can go up and it can go down, so a mortgage or HELOC interest would be more realistic. Assuming it is today's 4% rate, that 12k would be about $72.72 a month in the bankrate amortization calculator.
So it is 72.72+ 15 (grid fee) = 87.72 a month.
It works for him because he need a new roof anyways.
In my scenario: My electric is about 75 a month, I have Spanish tile roof, north facing roof, that would never work out anything positive for me.
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