Even in this relatively cold year, outdoor sports enthusiasts are reminded that climate change is stealing the joy of winters as we remember them.
Epstein Class will not care, but for those of us living on ground level in the real world, it’s a source of real grief.
Best estimates for when nuclear can begin to make a significant contribution to the US grid are still in the mid-2030s.
Nevertheless, there are a number of projects underway, each of which could be a puzzle piece.
The most consequential current developments are the restarts of existing, 50 year old plants, which could begin significant generation near term.
The other builds skew on the “demonstration” and “research” side, and have longer time lines.
There persists this unfounded view, even among some very smart people, that somewhere, an evil cabal of blue haired, green-addled hippies are preventing the massive rollout of the nuclear plants that will save us. The biggest obstacles to nuclear are today what they have always been – financial.
For added context, see my posts here and here.
Nuclear Hazelnut (Jenifer Avellaneda) on X:
Did you know there are actually 5 nuclear reactors under construction in the United States right now?
And that doesnât even include major reactor restarts⌠Letâs break them down..
Hermes â
Oak Ridge, Tennessee ⢠35 MWth test reactor ⢠Fluoride saltâcooled high-temp reactor ⢠Uses TRISO fuel ⢠NRC construction permit issued in 2023 ⢠First advanced non-light-water reactor under construction in the U.S. in decades Goal: Demonstrate tech before commercial deployment.
Fun fact: Itâs being built near the birthplace of the Manhattan Project.
Data Centers appear ready to swallow just about all available land on the earth’s surface.
One alternative idea floated by Elon Musk, among others, has been putting Data Centers in space.
Physics says there are challenges.
For the record, Greenland has a public health care system based on Denmark’s which provides care even in remote settlements.
I’ve accessed it myself, in 2015, I was treated for pneumonia, and in 2018, for broken ribs. No questions asked, never saw a bill.
Easy to understand Greenlander’s suspicions about a ‘hospital” ship being sent from the US.
Report above from Meidas Touch covers a lot of ground not just about the dodgy medical story, but also about US nuclear submarine activities that have come to light in the area – and a weird story about Russian development of Natural Gas proposed for he Alaskan arctic.
Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said “no thanks” Sunday to U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of sending a hospital ship to Greenland, a territory that Trump has repeatedly said he wishes to take over.
Trump said Saturday on social media he was working with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, his special envoy to Greenland, to send a hospital boat to Greenland.
Beyond Eerie.
America’s “Energy Dominance” being pwned by China in the fastest growing and most important markets, the developing world.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, in the video below, remarked, “..those that love their children, plant trees.”
The jaded cynical, fossil fueled wise guys currently running Washington are not capable of comprehending the aspirations of the great majority of humanity, who don’t care to live under the thumb of Exxon and the Epstein Class.
n 2024, the Ethiopian government banned the import of fossil fuel-powered vehicles and slashed tariffs on their electric equivalents. It was a policy driven less by the countryâs climate ambitions and more by fiscal pressures. For years, subsidizing gasoline for consumers has been a major drag on Ethiopiaâs budget, costing the state billions of dollars over the past decade. The country defaulted on its sovereign bonds in 2023 after rising interest rates drove up the costs of servicing its debts, and it received a $3.4 billion bailoutfrom the International Monetary Fund the following year.
In the two years since the ban on internal combustion engine vehicles, EV adoption has grown from less than 1% to nearly 6% of all of the vehicles on the road in the country â according to the governmentâs own figures â some way above the global average of 4%.
âThe Ethiopia story is fascinating,â said Colin McKerracher, head of clean transport at BloombergNEF. âWhat youâre seeing in places that donât make a lot of vehicles of any type, theyâre saying: âWell, look, if Iâm going to import the cars anyway, then Iâd rather import less oil. We may as well import the one that cleans up local air quality and is cheaper to buy.ââ
