kravietz 🦇 @kravietz@social.privacytools.io

@dump_stack

This is a complex, multivariate system and you can find examples of both really.

The famous Daraprim & Shkreli shitstorm was caused 100% by US protectionism. While US patients were forced to pay like $750 per pill the rest of the world scratched their heads with one big WTF because the drug actually costs like $0.20 everywhere. It was nothing else that US law that made it illegal for others than Shkreli to sell it. Same for insulin.

@nicksellen

But you're withdrawing at the most critical moment actually - when we got to the actual numbers. This is precisely what differs actual engineering from prototypes or pet projects.

It's like I had driven 1000 km from UK to Poland and happily announced "well, now I just need to drive a bit farther and I'll get to the Moon but I'm not interested in discussing details"...

@dump_stack

It's a bit messy but I think what he meant is the opposite - so after Brexit the United Kingdom will suddenly jump into a libertarian paradise of free trade with United States. Most likely meaning selling the UK healthcare system to American corporations so we can also enjoy $800'000 bills for a few days in intensive care.

@nicksellen

Plus, as explained before, a single 500 MW gas/coal/nuclear power plant that occupies 0.3 km2 at most needs to be replaced by 2'500 hectares (25 km2) of solar panels which will anyway work around 15% of the time on average in Europe. So PV actually scales very poorly.

@nicksellen

Any solar panel you will have on your bike will be enough to light maybe a single LED during the day, but it will be quite useless anyway as you need it during the night when it doesn't work.

@nicksellen

Neither wind nor solar can be operated fully unattended. Both are complex machinery which needs maintenance and servicing. And with thousands of panels and wind towers it's a continuous job. Majority of the solar and wind-related deaths (higher per MWh than nuclear) are related precisely to the maintenance accidents.

The date 😂

@nicksellen

> high technical expertise required at all stages

How do you think *any* low-carbon energy source is different? Wind turbines? Solar panels?

> likelihood of needing a lot of centralised state power

Do you think you need less centralised power to occupy 300 km2 with solar panels?

@nicksellen

If you strip all the hype and similar fallacies from the debate (and there's also some BS against renewables out there), there are no controversies there really...

@nicksellen

5 years ago my knowledge about nuclear and renewable was no different from the average, so based on popular media titles. But I have engineering background and no problem to dig into scientific and technical articles, so right now I'm confident that 90% of the arguments raised against nuclear are based on a single fallacy:

For nuclear always take old designs and worst-case scenarios, for renewables - always take newest or future designs and best-case scenarios :)

@nicksellen

I appreciate it and happy to restart the debate from the scratch here :)

The topic is polarising today only because it was made such by Greenpeace and FoE but as a matter of fact it's just another cost-benefit, evidence-based, risk-management discussion we must have if we want to prevent climate change.

@nicksellen

Ok, but this guy made a very clear, personal and consistent argument - which you rather rudely dismissed as "propaganda", because he's "also working in the nuclear industry", zero discussion about the actual argument he made. And now you ask about "balanced debate"... 🤔

@feld

To be honest, when I saw it retweeted by someone, I was 100% sure it's a bitter sarcasm. (it was not, apparently he was serious)

@freemo

"Kill them. For the Lord knows those that are His own." 🤷

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caedite_eos._Novit_enim_Dominus_qui_sunt_eius.

@nicksellen

And yes, land use *is* a huge concern here, especially if you have to cover ~300 ha of land with glass.