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redeggplant01 t1_j83tson wrote

Its only economical because the government is subsidizing such programs which are funded by taxes ( theft )

That is by defintion a bubble

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magellanNH t1_j842mn4 wrote

The subsidies make them even cheaper, but even without subsidies, wind and solar are the lowest cost sources of power generation we have right now.

A well-respected investment banking firm tracks the unsubsidized costs of various power generation approaches for institutional investors:

https://www.lazard.com/perspective/levelized-cost-of-energy-levelized-cost-of-storage-and-levelized-cost-of-hydrogen/

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redeggplant01 t1_j847npu wrote

> wind and solar are the lowest cost sources of power generation we have right now.

no they are not .. not without stealing from the taxpayer to subsidize them

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magellanNH t1_j84a3mj wrote

Yes they are. Take a look at the chart titled "Levelized Cost of Energy Comparison (Unsubsidized Analysis)"

The company that produces this report is the go-to source for any professional involved in energy project finance (mostly investment bankers and institutional investors). People in the business know most of the numbers/ranges in this report by heart.

You've been badly mislead about the economics of power generation and energy finance. You can choose to remain misinformed or you can do some research so you don't continue to post incorrect things. It's up to you.

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capistor t1_j8a9y4x wrote

>Levelized Cost of Energy Comparison (Unsubsidized Analysis)"

That's a disengenuous chart. Nuclear is heavily taxed with expensive fees, but this shows it as being most expensive without taking that into account. And it shows wind as being extremely cheap, without accounting for all its subsidies.

This is just a chart of chosen winners from globalist bureaucrats who want you to eat bugs and soy.

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redeggplant01 t1_j847oe9 wrote

> wind and solar are the lowest cost sources of power generation we have right now.

no they are not .. not without stealing from the taxpayer to subsidize them

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Worried_Student_7976 t1_j86c33t wrote

google “negative externalities of coal and natural gas”

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redeggplant01 t1_j86cakx wrote

No such thing as externalities- https://mises.org/library/externalities-argument

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Worried_Student_7976 t1_j86q99w wrote

lol an article from an org that touts the “Austrian school of economics” oh like the one no actual economist takes seriously?

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redeggplant01 t1_j88bimx wrote

Your inability to disproves what is sourced shows my statement to be spot on .. thanks

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Worried_Student_7976 t1_j8asz3p wrote

“Dr. Stephen P. Halbrook is a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, and has taught legal and political philosophy at George Mason University, Howard University, and Tuskegee Institute. He received his J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center and Ph.D. in social philosophy from Florida State University” lol the author is not even an economist - and I’m not going to debate with some guy who has drank so much of the right wing cool-aid that he would question whether or not a foundational concept of economics exists or not

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hardsoft t1_j85zvw6 wrote

But they're only interment power sources.

And if they were so economical and profitable there would be no need for subsidies.

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magellanNH t1_j869l7g wrote

First, the fact that renewables produce variable amounts of power intermittently creates engineering and grid planning challenges, but it doesn't change the end game.

Most grids use something called merit order scheduling to decide which combination of available generation resources will run during each time slot of each day (slots can be hourly, 15 minute, or more granular). Whenever renewables are available to power the grid, they're generally the cheapest to run so they get scheduled first, before more expensive generators that have to burn fuel to make power.

The subsidies will speed up the transition and whether you think they're needed/good depends on how you view climate change risk. But without the subsidies, we still get to the same place eventually, just maybe 10-20 years later. This is because renewables are the lowest cost way to make power and whenever they have power to "sell" someone will show up to buy it because it'll be cheaper than all the other alternatives. Again, basic economics.

When fracking changed the relative costs of generating power with coal and natural gas, it took 10-20 years for natural gas plants to drive most coal plants out of business.

The latest price drops in renewables and utility scale battery storage are causing an even bigger disruption that is happening as we speak. Grids are in the middle of a once-in-a-hundred-year transformation that hardly anyone realizes is happening and it's being driven primarily by economics, with some strong tail winds from climate activism.

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hardsoft t1_j86cjia wrote

It does change the end game in that it can't just be continually more intermittent sources...

That is without some other energy storage solution which negatively impacts the economics and most of which have their own environmental issues.

Meanwhile nuclear works day or night regardless of weather conditions...

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magellanNH t1_j86fg84 wrote

The Lazard paper has solar with battery storage at around 6 or 7 cents per kilowatt hour all in, while nuclear power comes in around 14 to 20 cents all in. So even when paired with batteries, renewables are cheaper than nuclear power by a lot.

Also, we're a long way away from a mostly renewable grid and for the next decade or two, using some natural gas when we need to support intermittent renewables will give us a relatively clean grid at a very reasonable cost.

The other challenge for nuclear power is that it's not flexible enough to economically follow load. That means it can only satisfy around 50% or so of a grid's total daily load. So at most it can provide half the solution, and for around 2 or three times the cost of better alternatives.

I'm not anti nuclear and strongly support the generous funding for research on advanced designs that was included in the bills signed by President Trump and also President Biden in the past few years. I also support the new production tax credit for nuclear power that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act. Nuclear power should get credit for its carbon free output just like other clean energy sources.

It'd be great if one of the promising next-gen technologies works out. The trouble is that we don't have anything cost competitive right now and the promising designs on the drawing board are at least 2 decades away from mass deployment.

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Paper_Disastrous t1_j8436nc wrote

Can you name a single 1st world country that doesn't collect taxes?

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BlueRabbitx t1_j86xqax wrote

They have volunteer military, police, fire, teachers for those that can’t afford them. You get to repair your own roads and runs on the honor system of not destroying the unmaintained public lands. Of course there aren’t many public lands as the companies that have the strongest militia took them over.

It’s a great place!

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