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[–]NeoRail 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

I genuinely cannot understand this push for green energy when we have nuclear, and when work is actively being done on nuclear fusion technology. To my knowledge, nuclear energy is almost completely clean, so the preference for wind, solar etc seems really bizarre to me.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

Nuclear won't save us either. Electricity is only 20% of global energy production.

[–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

If fusion is as effective as its proponents claim, it could be possible to go fully electric, but obviously that's just speculation at this point.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

it could be possible to go fully electric,

How are we even going to do that? Are we going to put small nuclear fusion reactors into every car, plane, ship, etc.? That's science fiction. Not to mention the fact that fossil fuels are used to make the four pillars of industrial civilization, namely plastic, cement, steel, and fertilizer. Even roads use fossil fuels. Where do you think asphalt comes from? I'm sorry, but I just don't see a way out of this.

[–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

My assumption would be that nuclear fusion power plants will power the grid and everything else will work off of that, like Tesla cars that can be charged directly with electricity etc. I am no engineer, however.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist[S] 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Electric vehicles account for only 2.2% of the global vehicle market share as of today. So, there's that. Then there's the question if there's even enough lithium in the world to make all the batteries we would need. And even if there is, how long would it take to mine the required amount? And that only accounts for cars. What about planes, trains, and ships? What about all the equipment we use to extract raw materials? Almost all of it runs on diesel.

[–]NeoRail 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

These are are all good questions, but as I said earlier, I am no engineer. Presumably there will need to be other ways to store electricity, if lithium is not a good solution.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

By the way, I highly recommend Art Berman's work. Here's a very educational podcast with him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leE-_EKLv-k&t=324s

[–]YJaewedwqewqClerical Fascist 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I think the main draw of using Nuclear for a national power grid is that it frees up fossil fuel resources that previously were essentially wasted on power generation for use in other sectors. With oil and such being eliminated from energy production, lots more is able to be used as fuel or in production of other goods like you mentioned. This is especially important because, while things like cars can be made electric or partially electric (i.e. Hybrid), many very important things cannot be, such as trains (for the most part, anyway), large ships, aircraft, and vitally, military vehicles such as tanks. In many of the aforementioned categories, nuclearization and electrification of these vehicles has either been tried and failed and is, without massive scientific breakthrough, completely impossible.

Obviously the ideal solutions would be to limit the usage of fossil fuels so that they are allocated to the most important consumers of such resources, using nuclear and other forms of power where possible, and improving public services so things like cars are not necessary for most people, as well as researching alternative fuel sources like synthetic fuels. However this would require significant restructuring and coordination that ZOGs are both incapable of and unwilling to do for numerous reasons, and would be a relatively low priority for any nascent Third Positionist/Dissident Right nations that arise in the future, as more pressing matters would certainly be on their plate.

[–]EthnocratArcheofuturist[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

For the record, I'm not against nuclear. I'm very much in favor of it. We should power the grid with fusion if we could. I'm just skeptical that fusion is going to be able to do it any time soon. It's decades away, at best.

while things like cars can be made electric or partially electric (i.e. Hybrid), many very important things cannot be, such as trains

Trains can actually run on electricity for the most part. On the other hand, it will take much more effort to turn the entire car fleet electric.