Edwards nuclear lecture 1/5: Don't wait for the saviour

[13xBlackSun]

Fantastic lecture - thank you for posting it! It has changed my opinion about nuclear energy.

My comment would be, that it is not that much about the climate change as about energy deficiency, due to higher needs and appetites for it.

[FinnGamble]

His number are somewhat off. Only about 7 % of Germany's total electrical power is generated by wind power, for instance.

Also, electric engines are much more efficient than combustion engines, so the numbers aren't comparable. I'm too lazy to look for the actual numbers, but I've seen calculations whereby a single nuclear plant could provide power for a couple of millions of electric cars daily. Doesn't sound insignificant to me.

[HitfulVids]

Is there enough neodymium on Earth (i.e., in China) to fuel the world with wind power and build hybrid cars and build disk drives?

[ehrydberg]

I'd like to see the source for those numbers because, according to energy.eu, Germany's total wind power production in 2008 is only 23,903 MW and renewal energy in Europe as a % of total is less than 10% is most countries (less than 2% in UK). RenewableEnergyWorld said for 2008 the US renewable was 12%, just less than nuclear. It's also important to realize that the relatively low amount produced by nuclear is largely due to public resistance to the technology, not an inherent limitation.

[nova77YT]

Interestigly MacKay has the numbers on how much electricity we would generate if we were to cover the entiere UK of windmills, and it is not much (search "Sustainable Energy - without the hot air"). Who's right?

[kbs1138]

The problem with this talk is he talks about nuclear power as if it is one technology. It is not. Sure his arguments have validity for uranium based solid fuel technologies that the current nuclear power industry promotes. Here is a better source, do a search for the phrase "energy from thorium"

[kuppazki]

täytyy sanoa että pätkää on leikelty aika paljon. mitähän nyt jäi kuulematta?

[Styrgefilmi]

@kuppazki: Ne suomenkieliset tulkkaukset joka lauseen välissä! Nekin on muuten mahdollista kuulla a-tuubissa...

[SetaValvomo]

pahaa settiä. tuulivoimaa!!