Summary
Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA, called Germany’s decision to fully phase out nuclear power “illogical,” noting it is the only country to have done so.
Despite the completed phase-out in 2023, there is renewed debate in Germany about reviving nuclear energy due to its low greenhouse gas emissions.
Speaking at COP29, Grossi described reconsidering nuclear as a “rational” choice, especially given global interest in nuclear for emissions reduction.
Germany’s phase-out, driven by environmental concerns and past nuclear disasters, has been criticized for increasing reliance on Russian gas and missing carbon reduction opportunities.
There is literally not enough minable lithium on this planet for that to be a viable option worldwide. Somewhere, somebody is going to have to use an alternate source.
sodium. gravity. carbon capacitors. lead acid. molten salt. air pressure. flywheel.
there’s alllll kinds of battery storage solutions, and for grid storage just about anything other than lithium can be used because lithium is really only useful for power density applications where weight and size of the battery matters like cars and planes.
nuclear fission is dead. fusion is the only nuclear worth talking about and that’s still years, probably decades away from being actually useful.
so then: solar, wind, wave, hydro, geothermal, and all kinds of batteries is what we have now and can do cheaply and do everywhere and do it now.
It’s really hard for me to understand where all that hate against renewable energy and batteries is coming from. I find it so magical to be able to run our entire house from a battery the size of some shoe boxes charged by our own roof. I’ve just learned that there are even affordable sodium batteries available now. How cool is that?!
