AI Power Consumption Surge Strains US Electricity Grid, Coal-Powered Plants Make a Comeback

[mechtech]

In operation hydro is cleanest, pronto. During construction, though, it generates A LOT of CO2 (and other gasses) when flooding their reservoirs if deforestation isn't correctly done, and it causes a lot of other environmental issues as well. And I say that while working at the most successful hydro plant in the world.

Solar and wind-powered generation also occupy too much area for the power they actually generate, and there's also an environmental hit for the production of their equipment and the area they're installed. So all things considered, I say nuclear is the cleanest (and also the most regular throughput) generation available.

During construction so does nuclear. There is a lot of concrete and steel in a nuclear plant and supporting infrastructure and a large amount of land used up. A lot of hydro is run of river so not much in the way of a headpond or flooding. Hydro station life is typically 3x that of a nuclear facility as well. But like you said for large continuous MW output nuclear is king…..well we used to have coal plants that could put out the same if you had the coal to do so.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

I discount solar and wind as they are totally dependent on the weather so are not a 24/7 generation option.

Imo the world need to build more nuclear, and i know how much of a enviromental hit they are to build, but once running they probably more than pay for themselves, and produce no enviromental impact.

Britain is pretty small, so with enough nuclear stations, Britain could have a 24/7 supply of clean power for the whole country with no need for any oil/coal or gas use at all.

 

[R-T-B]

American automobile owners are giving the electric grid a break so that's a plus ^^

Ah the ever lovely X user speaks.

No, more emissions due to poor products and bad planning is not "a plus."

I welcome our death overloads

People going to die either way but at least this way if we spent money in the right way it's theoretically avoidable.

I discount solar and wind as they are totally dependent on the weather so are not a 24/7 generation option.

Supplement them with nuclear/hydro for surges and you have a winner.

 

[R0H1T]

Hydro station life is typically 3x that of a nuclear facility as well. But like you said for large continuous MW output nuclear is king

We'll probably need another mini(?) breakthrough in nuclear power in the next decade or two in part because there's for some reason a lot of skepticism about their viability & safety ~ like anyone with election wins on their mind isn't touching it with a light year long pole! The way EV's have really taken off hydrocarbons or coal are the only viable options as of now, heck even China had power cuts in the last 2 years IIRC & they're adding more coal plants than probably the rest of the earth combined. Which is to say that even with their massive expansion the EV growth has outpaced the (newly)installed power plants' capacity.

 

[kondamin]

Nuclear power does not cause acid rain… its coal and other biomass like household trash that does that and sulfer in fuel etc.

Every power source needs mining to create the buildings Infrastructure.

hydro is disastrous to the environment, it destroys habitat and causes irepreble damage to the rivers they are build on.

this wouldn’t have happened if there was any form of planning for the future and growth of demand for electrical power in the whole western world tHe past 30 years.
privatisation of the grid was dumb.

 

[AnotherReader]

Nuclear power does not cause acid rain… its coal and other biomass like household trash that does that and sulfer in fuel etc.

Every power source needs mining to create the buildings Infrastructure.

hydro is disastrous to the environment, it destroys habitat and causes irepreble damage to the rivers they are build on.

this wouldn’t have happened if there was any form of planning for the future and growth of demand for electrical power in the whole western world tHe past 30 years.
privatisation of the grid was dumb.

It isn't the entire western world; as far as nuclear power is concerned, Germany is perhaps the worst and France is the best. Here, in the great white north, we are still using nuclear for base load in some provinces.

 

[Vayra86]

It isn't the entire western world; as far as nuclear power is concerned, Germany is perhaps the worst and France is the best. Here, in the great white north, we are still using nuclear for base load in some provinces.

France the best, except there are a lot of nuclear plants there reaching or having exceeded their original expiry date. Its like that for a lot of countries.

 

[AnotherReader]

France the best, except there are a lot of nuclear plants there reaching or having exceeded their original expiry date. Its like that for a lot of countries.

It doesn't matter as long as there are plans to refurbish them as my province does. In addition, people bemoaning solar and wind forget that they are already cheaper than coal.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

There is actually a big wind turbine plant right in my City, interesting to see, amazing the size of the blades.

 

[Raiden85]

Then maybe countries should invest in new nuclear power stations. The UK is just as pathetic as the last new nuclear power station we made went into service in 1995!, absolutely insane.

And countries wonder why they have power issues, if governments don't invest then expect issues.

 

[JohH]

Northern Virginia, huh?
So that's what the federal agencies are doing with their bloated budgets.