Ek het onlangs 'n onderhoud gehad met die
joernalis Gill Kearsley wat vir 'n BBC-radioprogram genaamd
Witness History op die BBC se World Service werk. Soos die
naam aandui, is Witness History 'n eerstepersoonsverslag uit
'n oomblik in die geskiedenis. Sy het 'n onderhoud met my
gevoer oor my betrokkenheid by Suid-Afrika se
kernwapenprogram. Die program wat sy opgeneem het, is
beskikbaar by .
Groete en beste wense
?Andr¨¦ Buys
Virus-free.
Re: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
Nog net die artikel oor die epidemies gelees. Baie interessant, maar nie vrolike leesstof nie!
?
From:?[email protected]?<[email protected]>?On Behalf Of?Pieter Van der Walt via? Sent:?Thursday, 26 September 2024 21:33 To:?ZA_energie <[email protected]> Subject:?[ZA-energie] Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
Die atoomwetenskaplikes se webwerf is 'n interessante en insiggewende kuierplek met baie inligting.
PW
?
---------- Forwarded message --------- From:?Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists?<newsletter@...> Date: Thu, 26 Sept 2024, 15:31 Subject: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
?
Nuclear questions for US presidential candidates | More?
Read a shareable version of this newsletter?. Was this email forwarded to you???to stay current.
?
?
?
? September 26, 2024 ?
Illustration by Erik English under license from vectoratu / Denis Voronin?
?
Bulletin?editorial highlights
This week, the?Bulletin?is holding strategic planning meetings. While we reflect on the past and look forward to the future, we wanted to share some of our favorite articles. Stay tuned for more highlights in Monday's newsletter.
JOHN MECKLIN
For the?Bulletin's?July 2023 Magazine, editor-in-chief John Mecklin went to Hollywood and interviewed Christopher Nolan about his then-upcoming film,?Oppenheimer.?
ERIK ENGLISH
Human history?is riddled with grizzly stories of epidemics.?Bulletin?associate multimedia editor Erik English took a visual approach to the history of human epidemics in this illustrated timeline.?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN
The?Bulletin's nuclear affairs?editor, Fran?ois Diaz-Maurin, wrote a guide on what to expect during, and after, a nuclear war. The results aren't pretty.?
SARA GOUDARZI
Bulletin?disruptive technologies editor Sara Goudarzi wrote an article differentiating?chatbots from?AI as a whole,?showing that a better understanding of how they work (and the human labor and data involved)?can better help evaluate?concerns about them.?
?
?
?
?
?
On November 12th, theBulletin¡¯s annual gathering will be held in Chicago.??
Occurring one week after the US election, our keynote conversation will feature David Ignatius, award-winningWashington Post?columnist whose new book?Phantom Orbit?focuses on growing conflicts in space.
???
?
?
?
?
?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN, JOHN MECKLIN
The?Bulletin?asked nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more of the submissions below, and stay tuned for further entries.
TOM Z. COLLINA
Tom Z. Collina, a national security expert and former director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
ELIANA JOHNS
Eliana Johns, senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the?Bulletin¡¯s Nuclear Notebook, proposes four nuclear questions about the US arsenal, nuclear testing, use of nuclear weapons, and North Korea that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
QUOTE OF THE DAY ???? "The US showed at Vogtle that we¡¯re not very good at building [nuclear]?plants...¡±
¡ª Todd Allen, chair of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at University of Michigan,??Wired
?
?
?
Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity. ?
?
?
?
?
?
?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ?
Copyright ? 2024?Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Don't miss an email! Please add?newsletter@...?to your address book. ?
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?
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.? Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.?
Re: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
On Thu, 26 Sept 2024, 21:32 Pieter Van der Walt via , <pwvanderwalt=[email protected]> wrote:
Die atoomwetenskaplikes se webwerf is 'n interessante en insiggewende kuierplek met baie inligting.
PW
?
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists<newsletter@...> Date: Thu, 26 Sept 2024, 15:31 Subject: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
Nuclear questions for US presidential candidates | More
Read a shareable version of this newsletter?.
Was this email forwarded to you?? to stay current.
? September 26, 2024
?
Illustration by Erik English under license from vectoratu / Denis Voronin?
Bulletin editorial highlights
This week, the Bulletin is holding strategic planning meetings. While we reflect on the past and look forward to the future, we wanted to share some of our favorite articles. Stay tuned for more highlights in Monday's newsletter.
JOHN MECKLIN
For the Bulletin's?July 2023 Magazine, editor-in-chief John Mecklin went to Hollywood and interviewed Christopher Nolan about his then-upcoming film, Oppenheimer.?
ERIK ENGLISH
Human history?is riddled with grizzly stories of epidemics. Bulletin?associate multimedia editor Erik English took a visual approach to the history of human epidemics in this illustrated timeline.?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN
The Bulletin's nuclear affairs?editor, Fran?ois Diaz-Maurin, wrote a guide on what to expect during, and after, a nuclear war. The results aren't pretty.?
SARA GOUDARZI
Bulletin disruptive technologies editor Sara Goudarzi wrote an article differentiating?chatbots from?AI as a whole,?showing that a better understanding of how they work (and the human labor and data involved)?can better help evaluate?concerns about them.?
?
?
?
On November 12th, the Bulletin¡¯s annual gathering will be held in Chicago.??
Occurring one week after the US election, our keynote conversation will feature David Ignatius, award-winning Washington Post columnist whose new book Phantom Orbit focuses on growing conflicts in space.
???
?
?
?
?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN, JOHN MECKLIN
The Bulletin asked nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more of the submissions below, and stay tuned for further entries.
TOM Z. COLLINA
Tom Z. Collina, a national security expert and former director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
ELIANA JOHNS
Eliana Johns, senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Bulletin¡¯s Nuclear Notebook, proposes four nuclear questions about the US arsenal, nuclear testing, use of nuclear weapons, and North Korea that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
???? "The US showed at Vogtle that we¡¯re not very good at building [nuclear]?plants...¡±
¡ª Todd Allen, chair of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at University of Michigan,??Wired
?
?
Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity.
?
?
?
?
?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ??
?
Copyright ? 2024?Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
From:[email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of Pieter Van der Walt via groups.io Sent: Thursday, 26 September 2024 21:33 To: ZA_energie <[email protected]> Subject: [ZA-energie] Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments
unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
Die atoomwetenskaplikes se webwerf is 'n interessante en insiggewende kuierplek met baie inligting.
PW
?
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists <newsletter@...>
Date: Thu, 26 Sept 2024, 15:31
Subject: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
?
Nuclear questions for US presidential candidates | More
Read a shareable version of this newsletter?.
Was this email forwarded to you??
to stay current.
?
?
?
? September 26, 2024
?
Illustration by Erik English under license from vectoratu / Denis Voronin?
?
Bulletin editorial highlights
This week, the Bulletin is holding strategic planning meetings. While we reflect on the past and look forward to the future, we wanted to
share some of our favorite articles. Stay tuned for more highlights in Monday's newsletter.
JOHN MECKLIN
For the Bulletin's?July 2023 Magazine, editor-in-chief John Mecklin went to Hollywood and interviewed Christopher Nolan about his then-upcoming
film, Oppenheimer.?
ERIK ENGLISH
Human history?is riddled with grizzly stories of epidemics.
Bulletin?associate multimedia editor Erik English took a visual approach to the history of human epidemics in this illustrated timeline.?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN
The Bulletin's nuclear affairs?editor, Fran?ois Diaz-Maurin, wrote a guide on what to expect during, and after, a nuclear war. The results
aren't pretty.?
SARA GOUDARZI
Bulletin disruptive technologies editor Sara Goudarzi wrote an article differentiating?chatbots from?AI as a whole,?showing that
a better understanding of how they work (and the human labor and data involved)?can better help evaluate?concerns about them.?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
On November 12th, the
Bulletin¡¯s annual gathering will be held in Chicago.??
Occurring one week after the US election, our keynote conversation will feature David Ignatius, award-winning
Washington Post columnist whose new book
Phantom Orbit focuses on growing conflicts in space.
???
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN, JOHN MECKLIN
The
Bulletin asked nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more of the submissions below, and stay tuned for further
entries.
TOM Z. COLLINA
Tom Z. Collina, a national security expert and former director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists
and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
ELIANA JOHNS
Eliana Johns, senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the
Bulletin¡¯s Nuclear Notebook, proposes four nuclear questions about the US arsenal, nuclear testing, use of nuclear weapons, and North Korea that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential
candidates.?
QUOTE OF THE DAY ???? "The US showed at Vogtle that we¡¯re not very good at building [nuclear]?plants...¡±
¡ª Todd Allen, chair of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at University of Michigan,??Wired
?
?
?
Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity.
?
?
?
?
?
?
??
? ??
? ??
? ??
? ??
?
Copyright ? 2024?Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Don't miss an email! Please add
newsletter@... to your address book.
?
?
?
?
?
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.
Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.
Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more
Die atoomwetenskaplikes se webwerf is 'n interessante en insiggewende kuierplek met baie inligting.
PW
?
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists<newsletter@...> Date: Thu, 26 Sept 2024, 15:31 Subject: Editorial highlights: AI hype, pandemic history, and more To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
Nuclear questions for US presidential candidates | More
Read a shareable version of this newsletter?.
Was this email forwarded to you?? to stay current.
? September 26, 2024
?
Illustration by Erik English under license from vectoratu / Denis Voronin?
Bulletin editorial highlights
This week, the Bulletin is holding strategic planning meetings. While we reflect on the past and look forward to the future, we wanted to share some of our favorite articles. Stay tuned for more highlights in Monday's newsletter.
JOHN MECKLIN
For the Bulletin's?July 2023 Magazine, editor-in-chief John Mecklin went to Hollywood and interviewed Christopher Nolan about his then-upcoming film, Oppenheimer.?
ERIK ENGLISH
Human history?is riddled with grizzly stories of epidemics. Bulletin?associate multimedia editor Erik English took a visual approach to the history of human epidemics in this illustrated timeline.?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN
The Bulletin's nuclear affairs?editor, Fran?ois Diaz-Maurin, wrote a guide on what to expect during, and after, a nuclear war. The results aren't pretty.?
SARA GOUDARZI
Bulletin disruptive technologies editor Sara Goudarzi wrote an article differentiating?chatbots from?AI as a whole,?showing that a better understanding of how they work (and the human labor and data involved)?can better help evaluate?concerns about them.?
?
?
?
On November 12th, the Bulletin¡¯s annual gathering will be held in Chicago.??
Occurring one week after the US election, our keynote conversation will feature David Ignatius, award-winning Washington Post columnist whose new book Phantom Orbit focuses on growing conflicts in space.
???
?
?
?
?
FRAN?OIS DIAZ-MAURIN, JOHN MECKLIN
The Bulletin asked nuclear policy experts to suggest questions that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates. Read more of the submissions below, and stay tuned for further entries.
TOM Z. COLLINA
Tom Z. Collina, a national security expert and former director of policy at the Ploughshares Fund, proposes a single, central question about nuclear weapons that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
ELIANA JOHNS
Eliana Johns, senior research associate at the Federation of American Scientists and co-author of the Bulletin¡¯s Nuclear Notebook, proposes four nuclear questions about the US arsenal, nuclear testing, use of nuclear weapons, and North Korea that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.?
QUOTE OF THE DAY
???? "The US showed at Vogtle that we¡¯re not very good at building [nuclear]?plants...¡±
¡ª Todd Allen, chair of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at University of Michigan,??Wired
?
?
Your gift fuels our mission to educate and empower. Together we will work to ensure science serves humanity.
?
?
?
?
?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ?? ? ??
?
Copyright ? 2024?Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Dit is indrukwekkend dat Microsoft die totale opbrengs?gaan koop vir datasentrums! In ons jong dae, was die "swakstroom" ouens nie energievrate?nie. Tye het verander!
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments
unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
?nteressant.? Dis ook interessant dat "Countries including Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies".? Dit terwyl in SA elektriese voertuie
meer invoerbelasting betaal as petrol of diesel modelle.? M a w ge-anti-subsidieer word!
On 2024/09/26 09:05, Pieter Van der Walt wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The Spark from MIT Technology Review <newsletters@...>
Date: Wed, 25 Sept 2024, 18:04
Subject: ?? Three Mile Island and AI
To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
?
Why Microsoft is looking for nuclear power
?
The Spark
By Casey Crownhart ? 9.25.24
?
?
Hello hello, welcome back to The Spark!
Nuclear power is coming back to Three Mile Island.
That nuclear power plant is typically associated with a very specific event. One of its reactors, Unit 2, suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 in what remains the most significant nuclear accident
in US history. It has been shuttered ever since.
But the site, in Pennsylvania, is also home to another reactor¡ªUnit 1, which consistently and safely generated electricity for decades until it was shut down in 2019. The site¡¯s owner announced
last week that it has plans to reopen the plant and signed a deal with Microsoft. The company will purchase the plant¡¯s entire electric generating capacity over the next 20 years.??
This news is fascinating for so many reasons. Obviously this site holds a certain significance in the history of nuclear power in the US. There¡¯s a possibility this would be one of the first reactors
in the country to reopen after shutting down. And Microsoft will be buying all the electricity from the reactor.
Let¡¯s dig into what this says about the future of the nuclear industry and Big Tech¡¯s power demand.??
?
?
Unit 2 at Three Mile Island operated for just a few months before the accident, in March 1979. At the time, Unit 1 was down for refueling. That reactor started back up, to some controversy, in the
mid-1980s and produced enough electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes in the area for more than 30 years.
Eventually, though, the plant faced economic struggles. Even though it was operating at? relatively high efficiency and with low costs, it was driven out of business by record low prices for natural
gas and the introduction of relatively cheap, subsidized renewable energy to the grid, says Patrick White, research director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit think tank.?
That situation has shifted in just the past few years, White says. There¡¯s more money available now for nuclear, including new technology-agnostic tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. And
there¡¯s also rising concern about the increased energy demand on the power grid, in part from tech giants looking to power data centers like those needed to run AI.
In announcing its , Constellation Energy, the owner of Three Mile Island Unit 1, also shared that the plant is getting a rebrand¡ªthe site will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. (Not sure if that one¡¯s going to
stick.)??
The confluence of the particular location of this reactor and the fact that the electricity will go to power data centers (and other infrastructure) makes this whole announcement instantly attention-grabbing.
As put it, ¡°Microsoft AI Needs So Much Power It's Tapping Site of US Nuclear Meltdown.¡±
For some people in climate circles, this deal makes a lot of sense. Nuclear power remains one of the most expensive forms of electricity today. But experts say it could play a crucial role on the
grid, since the plants typically put out a consistent amount of electricity¡ªit¡¯s often referred to as ¡°firm power,¡± in contrast with renewables like wind and solar that are intermittently available.
Without guaranteed money there¡¯s a chance this reactor would simply have been decommissioned as planned. Reopening
plants that shuttered recently could provide an opportunity to get the benefits of nuclear power without having to build an entirely new project.?
In March, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan got a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy¡¯s Loan Programs Office to the tune of over $1.5 billion to help restart. Palisades shut down
in 2022, and the site¡¯s owner says it hopes to get it back online by late 2025. It will be the first shuttered reactor in the US to come back online, if everything goes as planned. (For more details, check out my story from.)?
Three Mile Island may not be far behind¡ªConstellation says the reactor could be running again by 2028. (Interestingly, the facility will need to separately undergo a relicensing process in just
a few years, as it¡¯s currently only licensed to run through 2034. A standard 20-year extension could have it running until 2054.)
If Three Mile Island comes back online, Microsoft will be the one benefiting, as its long-term power purchase agreement would secure it enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes every
year. Except in this case, it¡¯ll be used to help run the company¡¯s massive data center infrastructure in the region.
This isn¡¯t the first recent sign Big Tech is jumping in on nuclear power: Earlier this year, Amazon right next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, also in Pennsylvania.
While Amazon will use only part of the output of the Susquehanna plant, Microsoft will buy all the power that Three Mile Island produces. That raises the question of who¡¯s paying for what in this
whole arrangement. Ratepayers won¡¯t be expected to shoulder any of the costs to restart the facility, Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez
The company also won¡¯t seek any special subsidies from the state, he added.
However, Dominguez also told the
Post that federal money is key in allowing this project to go forward. Specifically, there are
set aside for existing nuclear plants.?
The company declined to give the
Post a value for the potential tax credits and didn¡¯t respond to my request for comment, but I busted out a calculator and did my own math. Assuming an 835-megawatt plant running at 96.3% capacity
(the figure Constellation gave for the plant¡¯s final year of operation) and a $15-per-megawatt-hour tax credit, that could add up to about $100 million each year, assuming requirements for wages and price are met.
It¡¯ll be interesting to see how much further this trend of restarting plants might go. The Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa is one potential candidate¡ªit shuttered in 2020 after 45 years, and
the site¡¯s owner has? about the potential of reopening.?
Restarting any or all of these three sites could be the latest sign of an approaching nuclear resurgence. Big
tech companies need lots of energy, and bringing old nuclear plants onto the grid¡ªor, better yet, keeping aging ones open¡ªseems to me like a great way to meet demand.
But given the relative rarity of opportunities to snag power from recently closed or closing plants, I think the biggest question for the industry is whether this wave of interest will translate
into building new reactors as well.??
?
?
Related reading
?
Read for all the details on what it takes to reopen a shuttered nuclear power plant and what we might see at Palisades.?
In the latest in our virtual events series, my colleagues James Temple, Melissa Heikkil?, and David Rotman are having a discussion about AI¡¯s climate impacts. Subscribers can
live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern today, September 25, or check out the recording later.?
AI is an energy hog, but the effects of the technology on emissions are a bit complicated,
.??
?
?
Three more things
?
It¡¯s been a busy week for the climate team here at
MIT Technology Review, so let¡¯s do a rapid-fire round:?
Countries including Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies. I wrote about why some experts are worried that
.?
A proposal to connect two of the US¡¯s largest grids could be crucial to cleaning up our electricity system. The project just got a major boost in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars, and it could represent
a long-awaited success for energy entrepreneur Michael Skelly, as my colleague James Temple
.??
Finally, there¡¯s just one week until we drop our 2024 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch.
, and keep your eyes peeled next week for the reveal.?
?
?
Keeping up with climate
?
The US Department of Energy just announced $3 billion in funding to boost the battery and EV supply chain.
()
¡ú A single Minnesota mine could unlock billions of tax credits in the US. ()
Cheap solar panels are making that energy source abundantly available in Pakistan. But the boom also threatens making power pulled from the grid unaffordable. ()
Individual action alone won¡¯t solve the climate crisis, but there are some things people can do. Check out this package on how to decarbonize your life through choices about everything
from food to transportation. ()
A group of major steel buyers wants a million tons of low-emissions steel in North America by 2028. These kinds of commitments from customers could help clean up heavy industry. ()
This startup wants to use ground-up rocks and the ocean to soak up carbon dioxide.
The result could transform the oceans. ()
North America¡¯s largest food companies are struggling to cut emissions.
The biggest culprit is their supply chains¡ªthe ingredients they use and the transportation needed to move them around. ()
California is suing ExxonMobil, claiming the company misled consumers by perpetuating the myth that recycling could solve the plastic waste crisis. Only a small fraction of plastic waste
is ever recycled. ()
?
?
Just for fun
?
One reason I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not a cave fish? As they hit adolescence, they start growing taste buds in weird places, including their chin and the top of their head.
Read more in .
?
?
Thanks for reading¡ªsee you next week!
Casey
?
Top Image Credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty
?
?
?
The Spark readers
! Code:
SPARK30
?
?
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Join our editors for an
exclusive subscriber-only discussion about how AI is impacting the climate and the energy trade-offs involved in its use.
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?
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Meet the 35 Innovators Under 35, plus
.
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Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you¡¯d like to see more?
MIT Technology Review ¡¤ 196 Broadway, 3rd fl, ¡¤ Cambridge, MA 02139 ¡¤ USA
Copyright ? 2024 MIT Technology Review, All rights reserved.
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.
Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments
unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
?nteressant.? Dis ook interessant dat "Countries including Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies".? Dit terwyl in SA elektriese voertuie
meer invoerbelasting betaal as petrol of diesel modelle.? M a w ge-anti-subsidieer word!
On 2024/09/26 09:05, Pieter Van der Walt wrote:
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: The Spark from MIT Technology Review <newsletters@...>
Date: Wed, 25 Sept 2024, 18:04
Subject: ?? Three Mile Island and AI
To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
?
Why Microsoft is looking for nuclear power
?
The Spark
By Casey Crownhart ? 9.25.24
?
?
Hello hello, welcome back to The Spark!
Nuclear power is coming back to Three Mile Island.
That nuclear power plant is typically associated with a very specific event. One of its reactors, Unit 2, suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 in what remains the most significant nuclear accident
in US history. It has been shuttered ever since.
But the site, in Pennsylvania, is also home to another reactor¡ªUnit 1, which consistently and safely generated electricity for decades until it was shut down in 2019. The site¡¯s owner announced
last week that it has plans to reopen the plant and signed a deal with Microsoft. The company will purchase the plant¡¯s entire electric generating capacity over the next 20 years.??
This news is fascinating for so many reasons. Obviously this site holds a certain significance in the history of nuclear power in the US. There¡¯s a possibility this would be one of the first reactors
in the country to reopen after shutting down. And Microsoft will be buying all the electricity from the reactor.
Let¡¯s dig into what this says about the future of the nuclear industry and Big Tech¡¯s power demand.??
?
?
Unit 2 at Three Mile Island operated for just a few months before the accident, in March 1979. At the time, Unit 1 was down for refueling. That reactor started back up, to some controversy, in the
mid-1980s and produced enough electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes in the area for more than 30 years.
Eventually, though, the plant faced economic struggles. Even though it was operating at? relatively high efficiency and with low costs, it was driven out of business by record low prices for natural
gas and the introduction of relatively cheap, subsidized renewable energy to the grid, says Patrick White, research director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit think tank.?
That situation has shifted in just the past few years, White says. There¡¯s more money available now for nuclear, including new technology-agnostic tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. And
there¡¯s also rising concern about the increased energy demand on the power grid, in part from tech giants looking to power data centers like those needed to run AI.
In announcing its , Constellation Energy, the owner of Three Mile Island Unit 1, also shared that the plant is getting a rebrand¡ªthe site will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. (Not sure if that one¡¯s going to
stick.)??
The confluence of the particular location of this reactor and the fact that the electricity will go to power data centers (and other infrastructure) makes this whole announcement instantly attention-grabbing.
As put it, ¡°Microsoft AI Needs So Much Power It's Tapping Site of US Nuclear Meltdown.¡±
For some people in climate circles, this deal makes a lot of sense. Nuclear power remains one of the most expensive forms of electricity today. But experts say it could play a crucial role on the
grid, since the plants typically put out a consistent amount of electricity¡ªit¡¯s often referred to as ¡°firm power,¡± in contrast with renewables like wind and solar that are intermittently available.
Without guaranteed money there¡¯s a chance this reactor would simply have been decommissioned as planned. Reopening
plants that shuttered recently could provide an opportunity to get the benefits of nuclear power without having to build an entirely new project.?
In March, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan got a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy¡¯s Loan Programs Office to the tune of over $1.5 billion to help restart. Palisades shut down
in 2022, and the site¡¯s owner says it hopes to get it back online by late 2025. It will be the first shuttered reactor in the US to come back online, if everything goes as planned. (For more details, check out my story from.)?
Three Mile Island may not be far behind¡ªConstellation says the reactor could be running again by 2028. (Interestingly, the facility will need to separately undergo a relicensing process in just
a few years, as it¡¯s currently only licensed to run through 2034. A standard 20-year extension could have it running until 2054.)
If Three Mile Island comes back online, Microsoft will be the one benefiting, as its long-term power purchase agreement would secure it enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes every
year. Except in this case, it¡¯ll be used to help run the company¡¯s massive data center infrastructure in the region.
This isn¡¯t the first recent sign Big Tech is jumping in on nuclear power: Earlier this year, Amazon right next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, also in Pennsylvania.
While Amazon will use only part of the output of the Susquehanna plant, Microsoft will buy all the power that Three Mile Island produces. That raises the question of who¡¯s paying for what in this
whole arrangement. Ratepayers won¡¯t be expected to shoulder any of the costs to restart the facility, Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez
The company also won¡¯t seek any special subsidies from the state, he added.
However, Dominguez also told the
Post that federal money is key in allowing this project to go forward. Specifically, there are
set aside for existing nuclear plants.?
The company declined to give the
Post a value for the potential tax credits and didn¡¯t respond to my request for comment, but I busted out a calculator and did my own math. Assuming an 835-megawatt plant running at 96.3% capacity
(the figure Constellation gave for the plant¡¯s final year of operation) and a $15-per-megawatt-hour tax credit, that could add up to about $100 million each year, assuming requirements for wages and price are met.
It¡¯ll be interesting to see how much further this trend of restarting plants might go. The Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa is one potential candidate¡ªit shuttered in 2020 after 45 years, and
the site¡¯s owner has? about the potential of reopening.?
Restarting any or all of these three sites could be the latest sign of an approaching nuclear resurgence. Big
tech companies need lots of energy, and bringing old nuclear plants onto the grid¡ªor, better yet, keeping aging ones open¡ªseems to me like a great way to meet demand.
But given the relative rarity of opportunities to snag power from recently closed or closing plants, I think the biggest question for the industry is whether this wave of interest will translate
into building new reactors as well.??
?
?
Related reading
?
Read for all the details on what it takes to reopen a shuttered nuclear power plant and what we might see at Palisades.?
In the latest in our virtual events series, my colleagues James Temple, Melissa Heikkil?, and David Rotman are having a discussion about AI¡¯s climate impacts. Subscribers can
live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern today, September 25, or check out the recording later.?
AI is an energy hog, but the effects of the technology on emissions are a bit complicated,
.??
?
?
Three more things
?
It¡¯s been a busy week for the climate team here at
MIT Technology Review, so let¡¯s do a rapid-fire round:?
Countries including Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies. I wrote about why some experts are worried that
.?
A proposal to connect two of the US¡¯s largest grids could be crucial to cleaning up our electricity system. The project just got a major boost in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars, and it could represent
a long-awaited success for energy entrepreneur Michael Skelly, as my colleague James Temple
.??
Finally, there¡¯s just one week until we drop our 2024 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch.
, and keep your eyes peeled next week for the reveal.?
?
?
Keeping up with climate
?
The US Department of Energy just announced $3 billion in funding to boost the battery and EV supply chain.
()
¡ú A single Minnesota mine could unlock billions of tax credits in the US. ()
Cheap solar panels are making that energy source abundantly available in Pakistan. But the boom also threatens making power pulled from the grid unaffordable. ()
Individual action alone won¡¯t solve the climate crisis, but there are some things people can do. Check out this package on how to decarbonize your life through choices about everything
from food to transportation. ()
A group of major steel buyers wants a million tons of low-emissions steel in North America by 2028. These kinds of commitments from customers could help clean up heavy industry. ()
This startup wants to use ground-up rocks and the ocean to soak up carbon dioxide.
The result could transform the oceans. ()
North America¡¯s largest food companies are struggling to cut emissions.
The biggest culprit is their supply chains¡ªthe ingredients they use and the transportation needed to move them around. ()
California is suing ExxonMobil, claiming the company misled consumers by perpetuating the myth that recycling could solve the plastic waste crisis. Only a small fraction of plastic waste
is ever recycled. ()
?
?
Just for fun
?
One reason I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not a cave fish? As they hit adolescence, they start growing taste buds in weird places, including their chin and the top of their head.
Read more in .
?
?
Thanks for reading¡ªsee you next week!
Casey
?
Top Image Credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty
?
?
?
The Spark readers
! Code:
SPARK30
?
?
?
Join our editors for an
exclusive subscriber-only discussion about how AI is impacting the climate and the energy trade-offs involved in its use.
?
?
?
Meet the 35 Innovators Under 35, plus
.
?
?
?
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MIT Technology Review ¡¤ 196 Broadway, 3rd fl, ¡¤ Cambridge, MA 02139 ¡¤ USA
Copyright ? 2024 MIT Technology Review, All rights reserved.
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.
Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.
?nteressant.?
Dis ook interessant dat "Countries including Germany, Sweden,
and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies".? Dit terwyl in SA
elektriese voertuie meer invoerbelasting betaal as
petrol of diesel modelle.? M a w ge-anti-subsidieer word!
From: The Spark from MIT
Technology Review<newsletters@...>
Date: Wed, 25 Sept 2024, 18:04
Subject: ?? Three Mile Island and AI
To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
Why
Microsoft is looking for nuclear power
The Spark
By Casey Crownhart ? 9.25.24
?
Hello
hello, welcome
back to The
Spark!
Nuclear
power is coming
back to Three
Mile Island.
That
nuclear power
plant is
typically
associated with
a very specific
event. One of
its reactors,
Unit 2, suffered
a partial
meltdown in 1979
in what remains
the most
significant
nuclear accident
in US history.
It has been
shuttered ever
since.
But
the site, in
Pennsylvania, is
also home to
another
reactor¡ªUnit 1,
which
consistently and
safely generated
electricity for
decades until it
was shut down in
2019. The site¡¯s
owner announced
last week that
it has plans to
reopen the plant
and signed a
deal with
Microsoft. The
company will
purchase the
plant¡¯s entire
electric
generating
capacity over
the next 20
years.??
This
news is
fascinating for
so many reasons.
Obviously this
site holds a
certain
significance in
the history of
nuclear power in
the US. There¡¯s
a possibility
this would be
one of the first
reactors in the
country to
reopen after
shutting down.
And Microsoft
will be buying
all the
electricity from
the reactor. Let¡¯s
dig into what
this says
about the
future of the
nuclear
industry and
Big Tech¡¯s
power
demand.??
Unit
2 at Three Mile
Island operated
for just a few
months before the
accident, in March
1979. At the time,
Unit 1 was down
for refueling.
That reactor
started back up,
to some
controversy, in
the mid-1980s and
produced enough
electricity for
hundreds of
thousands of homes
in the area for
more than 30
years.
Eventually,
though, the plant
faced economic
struggles. Even
though it was
operating at?
relatively high
efficiency and
with low costs, it
was driven out of
business by record
low prices for
natural gas and
the introduction
of relatively
cheap, subsidized
renewable energy
to the grid, says
Patrick White,
research director
of the Nuclear
Innovation
Alliance, a
nonprofit think
tank.?
That
situation has
shifted in just
the past few
years, White says.
There¡¯s more money
available now for
nuclear, including
new
technology-agnostic
tax credits in the
Inflation
Reduction Act. And
there¡¯s also
rising concern
about the
increased energy
demand on the
power grid, in
part from tech
giants looking to
power data centers
like those needed
to run AI.
In
announcing its , Constellation Energy,
the owner of Three
Mile Island Unit
1, also shared
that the plant is
getting a
rebrand¡ªthe site
will be renamed
the Crane Clean
Energy Center.
(Not sure if that
one¡¯s going to
stick.)??
The
confluence of the
particular
location of this
reactor and the
fact that the
electricity will
go to power data
centers (and other
infrastructure)
makes this whole
announcement
instantly
attention-grabbing.
As put it, ¡°Microsoft AI Needs So
Much Power It's
Tapping Site of US
Nuclear Meltdown.¡±
For
some people in
climate circles,
this deal makes a
lot of sense.
Nuclear power
remains one of the
most expensive
forms of
electricity today.
But experts say it
could play a
crucial role on
the grid, since
the plants
typically put out
a consistent
amount of
electricity¡ªit¡¯s
often referred to
as ¡°firm power,¡±
in contrast with
renewables like
wind and solar
that are
intermittently
available.
Without
guaranteed money
there¡¯s a chance
this reactor
would simply
have been
decommissioned
as planned.
Reopening plants
that shuttered
recently could
provide an
opportunity to get
the benefits of
nuclear power
without having to
build an entirely
new project.?
In
March, the
Palisades Nuclear
Plant in Michigan
got a loan
guarantee from the
US Department of
Energy¡¯s Loan
Programs Office to
the tune of over
$1.5 billion to
help restart.
Palisades shut
down in 2022, and
the site¡¯s owner
says it hopes to
get it back online
by late 2025. It
will be the first
shuttered reactor
in the US to come
back online, if
everything goes as
planned. (For more
details, check out
my story from.)?
Three
Mile Island may
not be far
behind¡ªConstellation
says the reactor
could be running
again by 2028.
(Interestingly,
the facility will
need to separately
undergo a
relicensing
process in just a
few years, as it¡¯s
currently only
licensed to run
through 2034. A
standard 20-year
extension could
have it running
until 2054.)
If
Three Mile
Island comes
back online,
Microsoft will
be the one
benefiting, as
its long-term
power purchase
agreement would
secure it enough
energy to power
roughly 800,000
homes every
year.
Except in this
case, it¡¯ll be
used to help run
the company¡¯s
massive data
center
infrastructure in
the region.
This
isn¡¯t the first
recent sign Big
Tech is jumping in
on nuclear power:
Earlier this year,
Amazon right next to
the Susquehanna
nuclear power
plant, also in
Pennsylvania.
While
Amazon will use
only part of the
output of the
Susquehanna plant,
Microsoft will buy
all the power that
Three Mile Island
produces. That
raises the
question of who¡¯s
paying for what in
this whole
arrangement.
Ratepayers won¡¯t
be expected to
shoulder any of
the costs to
restart the
facility,
Constellation CEO
Joe Dominguez The
company also won¡¯t
seek any special
subsidies from the
state, he added.
However,
Dominguez also
told the Post
that federal money
is key in allowing
this project to go
forward.
Specifically,
there are
set aside for
existing nuclear
plants.?
The
company declined
to give the Post
a value for the
potential tax
credits and didn¡¯t
respond to my
request for
comment, but I
busted out a
calculator and did
my own math.
Assuming an
835-megawatt plant
running at 96.3%
capacity (the
figure
Constellation gave
for the plant¡¯s
final year of
operation) and a
$15-per-megawatt-hour
tax credit, that
could add up to
about $100 million
each year,
assuming
requirements for
wages and price
are met.
It¡¯ll
be interesting to
see how much
further this trend
of restarting
plants might go.
The Duane Arnold
nuclear plant in
Iowa is one
potential
candidate¡ªit
shuttered in 2020
after 45 years,
and the site¡¯s
owner has? about the potential of
reopening.?
Restarting
any or all of
these three
sites could be
the latest sign
of an
approaching
nuclear
resurgence.
Big tech companies
need lots of
energy, and
bringing old
nuclear plants
onto the grid¡ªor,
better yet,
keeping aging ones
open¡ªseems to me
like a great way
to meet demand.
But
given the relative
rarity of
opportunities to
snag power from
recently closed or
closing plants, I
think the biggest
question for the
industry is
whether this wave
of interest will
translate into
building new
reactors as
well.??
Related
reading
Read
for all the
details on what it
takes to reopen a
shuttered nuclear
power plant and
what we might see
at Palisades.?
In the latest in
our virtual events
series, my
colleagues James
Temple, Melissa
Heikkil?, and
David Rotman are
having a
discussion about
AI¡¯s climate
impacts.
Subscribers can live at 12:30
p.m. Eastern
today, September
25, or check out
the recording
later.?
AI is an energy
hog, but the
effects of the
technology on
emissions are a
bit complicated, .??
Three
more things
It¡¯s
been a busy week
for the climate
team here at MIT
Technology
Review,
so let¡¯s do a
rapid-fire
round:?
Countries
including
Germany,
Sweden, and
New Zealand
are ending EV
subsidies. I
wrote about
why some
experts are
worried that .?
A
proposal to
connect two of
the US¡¯s
largest grids
could be
crucial to
cleaning up
our
electricity
system. The
project just
got a major
boost in the
form of
hundreds of
billions of
dollars, and
it could
represent a
long-awaited
success for
energy
entrepreneur
Michael
Skelly, as my
colleague
James Temple .??
Finally,
there¡¯s just
one week until
we drop our
2024 list of
15 Climate
Tech Companies
to Watch. ,
and keep your
eyes peeled
next week for
the reveal.?
Keeping
up with climate
The
US Department of
Energy just
announced $3
billion in
funding to boost
the battery and
EV supply chain.
()
¡ú A single
Minnesota mine
could unlock
billions of tax
credits in the US.
()
Cheap
solar panels are
making that
energy source
abundantly
available in
Pakistan.
But the boom also
threatens making
power pulled from
the grid
unaffordable. ()
Individual
action alone
won¡¯t solve the
climate crisis,
but there are
some things
people can do.
Check out this
package on how to
decarbonize your
life through
choices about
everything from
food to
transportation. ()
A group of
major steel
buyers wants a
million tons of
low-emissions
steel in North
America by 2028.
These kinds of
commitments from
customers could
help clean up
heavy industry. ()
This
startup wants to
use ground-up
rocks and the
ocean to soak up
carbon dioxide.
The
result could
transform the
oceans. ()
North
America¡¯s
largest food
companies are
struggling to
cut emissions. The
biggest culprit is
their supply
chains¡ªthe
ingredients they
use and the
transportation
needed to move
them around. ()
California
is suing
ExxonMobil,
claiming the
company misled
consumers by
perpetuating the
myth that
recycling could
solve the
plastic waste
crisis.
Only a small
fraction of
plastic waste is
ever recycled. ()
Just
for fun
One
reason I¡¯m glad
I¡¯m not a cave
fish? As they hit
adolescence, they
start growing
taste buds in
weird places,
including their
chin and the top
of their head.
Read more in .
Thanks
for reading¡ªsee
you next week!
Casey
Top Image Credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty
The
Spark readers ! Code: SPARK30
Join
our editors for an exclusive
subscriber-only
discussion
about how AI is
impacting the
climate and the
energy trade-offs
involved in its use.
Meet
the 35 Innovators
Under 35, plus .
Was
this newsletter
forwarded to
you, and you¡¯d
like to see
more?
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: The Spark from MIT Technology Review<newsletters@...> Date: Wed, 25 Sept 2024, 18:04 Subject: ?? Three Mile Island and AI To: <pwvanderwalt@...>
Why Microsoft is looking for nuclear power
The Spark
By Casey Crownhart ? 9.25.24
?
Hello hello, welcome back to The Spark!
Nuclear power is coming back to Three Mile Island.
That nuclear power plant is typically associated with a very specific event. One of its reactors, Unit 2, suffered a partial meltdown in 1979 in what remains the most significant nuclear accident in US history. It has been shuttered ever since.
But the site, in Pennsylvania, is also home to another reactor¡ªUnit 1, which consistently and safely generated electricity for decades until it was shut down in 2019. The site¡¯s owner announced last week that it has plans to reopen the plant and signed a deal with Microsoft. The company will purchase the plant¡¯s entire electric generating capacity over the next 20 years.??
This news is fascinating for so many reasons. Obviously this site holds a certain significance in the history of nuclear power in the US. There¡¯s a possibility this would be one of the first reactors in the country to reopen after shutting down. And Microsoft will be buying all the electricity from the reactor. Let¡¯s dig into what this says about the future of the nuclear industry and Big Tech¡¯s power demand.??
Unit 2 at Three Mile Island operated for just a few months before the accident, in March 1979. At the time, Unit 1 was down for refueling. That reactor started back up, to some controversy, in the mid-1980s and produced enough electricity for hundreds of thousands of homes in the area for more than 30 years.
Eventually, though, the plant faced economic struggles. Even though it was operating at? relatively high efficiency and with low costs, it was driven out of business by record low prices for natural gas and the introduction of relatively cheap, subsidized renewable energy to the grid, says Patrick White, research director of the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, a nonprofit think tank.?
That situation has shifted in just the past few years, White says. There¡¯s more money available now for nuclear, including new technology-agnostic tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. And there¡¯s also rising concern about the increased energy demand on the power grid, in part from tech giants looking to power data centers like those needed to run AI.
In announcing its , Constellation Energy, the owner of Three Mile Island Unit 1, also shared that the plant is getting a rebrand¡ªthe site will be renamed the Crane Clean Energy Center. (Not sure if that one¡¯s going to stick.)??
The confluence of the particular location of this reactor and the fact that the electricity will go to power data centers (and other infrastructure) makes this whole announcement instantly attention-grabbing. As put it, ¡°Microsoft AI Needs So Much Power It's Tapping Site of US Nuclear Meltdown.¡±
For some people in climate circles, this deal makes a lot of sense. Nuclear power remains one of the most expensive forms of electricity today. But experts say it could play a crucial role on the grid, since the plants typically put out a consistent amount of electricity¡ªit¡¯s often referred to as ¡°firm power,¡± in contrast with renewables like wind and solar that are intermittently available.
Without guaranteed money there¡¯s a chance this reactor would simply have been decommissioned as planned. Reopening plants that shuttered recently could provide an opportunity to get the benefits of nuclear power without having to build an entirely new project.?
In March, the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan got a loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy¡¯s Loan Programs Office to the tune of over $1.5 billion to help restart. Palisades shut down in 2022, and the site¡¯s owner says it hopes to get it back online by late 2025. It will be the first shuttered reactor in the US to come back online, if everything goes as planned. (For more details, check out my story from.)?
Three Mile Island may not be far behind¡ªConstellation says the reactor could be running again by 2028. (Interestingly, the facility will need to separately undergo a relicensing process in just a few years, as it¡¯s currently only licensed to run through 2034. A standard 20-year extension could have it running until 2054.)
If Three Mile Island comes back online, Microsoft will be the one benefiting, as its long-term power purchase agreement would secure it enough energy to power roughly 800,000 homes every year. Except in this case, it¡¯ll be used to help run the company¡¯s massive data center infrastructure in the region.
This isn¡¯t the first recent sign Big Tech is jumping in on nuclear power: Earlier this year, Amazon right next to the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, also in Pennsylvania.
While Amazon will use only part of the output of the Susquehanna plant, Microsoft will buy all the power that Three Mile Island produces. That raises the question of who¡¯s paying for what in this whole arrangement. Ratepayers won¡¯t be expected to shoulder any of the costs to restart the facility, Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez The company also won¡¯t seek any special subsidies from the state, he added.
However, Dominguez also told the Post that federal money is key in allowing this project to go forward. Specifically, there are set aside for existing nuclear plants.?
The company declined to give the Post a value for the potential tax credits and didn¡¯t respond to my request for comment, but I busted out a calculator and did my own math. Assuming an 835-megawatt plant running at 96.3% capacity (the figure Constellation gave for the plant¡¯s final year of operation) and a $15-per-megawatt-hour tax credit, that could add up to about $100 million each year, assuming requirements for wages and price are met.
It¡¯ll be interesting to see how much further this trend of restarting plants might go. The Duane Arnold nuclear plant in Iowa is one potential candidate¡ªit shuttered in 2020 after 45 years, and the site¡¯s owner has? about the potential of reopening.?
Restarting any or all of these three sites could be the latest sign of an approaching nuclear resurgence. Big tech companies need lots of energy, and bringing old nuclear plants onto the grid¡ªor, better yet, keeping aging ones open¡ªseems to me like a great way to meet demand.
But given the relative rarity of opportunities to snag power from recently closed or closing plants, I think the biggest question for the industry is whether this wave of interest will translate into building new reactors as well.??
Related reading
Read for all the details on what it takes to reopen a shuttered nuclear power plant and what we might see at Palisades.?
In the latest in our virtual events series, my colleagues James Temple, Melissa Heikkil?, and David Rotman are having a discussion about AI¡¯s climate impacts. Subscribers can live at 12:30 p.m. Eastern today, September 25, or check out the recording later.?
AI is an energy hog, but the effects of the technology on emissions are a bit complicated, .??
Three more things
It¡¯s been a busy week for the climate team here at MIT Technology Review, so let¡¯s do a rapid-fire round:?
Countries including Germany, Sweden, and New Zealand are ending EV subsidies. I wrote about why some experts are worried that .?
A proposal to connect two of the US¡¯s largest grids could be crucial to cleaning up our electricity system. The project just got a major boost in the form of hundreds of billions of dollars, and it could represent a long-awaited success for energy entrepreneur Michael Skelly, as my colleague James Temple .??
Finally, there¡¯s just one week until we drop our 2024 list of 15 Climate Tech Companies to Watch. , and keep your eyes peeled next week for the reveal.?
Keeping up with climate
The US Department of Energy just announced $3 billion in funding to boost the battery and EV supply chain. ()
¡ú A single Minnesota mine could unlock billions of tax credits in the US. ()
Cheap solar panels are making that energy source abundantly available in Pakistan. But the boom also threatens making power pulled from the grid unaffordable. ()
Individual action alone won¡¯t solve the climate crisis, but there are some things people can do. Check out this package on how to decarbonize your life through choices about everything from food to transportation. ()
A group of major steel buyers wants a million tons of low-emissions steel in North America by 2028. These kinds of commitments from customers could help clean up heavy industry. ()
This startup wants to use ground-up rocks and the ocean to soak up carbon dioxide. The result could transform the oceans. ()
North America¡¯s largest food companies are struggling to cut emissions. The biggest culprit is their supply chains¡ªthe ingredients they use and the transportation needed to move them around. ()
California is suing ExxonMobil, claiming the company misled consumers by perpetuating the myth that recycling could solve the plastic waste crisis. Only a small fraction of plastic waste is ever recycled. ()
Just for fun
One reason I¡¯m glad I¡¯m not a cave fish? As they hit adolescence, they start growing taste buds in weird places, including their chin and the top of their head.
Read more in .
Thanks for reading¡ªsee you next week!
Casey
Top Image Credit: Matthew Hatcher/Getty
The Spark readers ! Code: SPARK30
Join our editors for an exclusive subscriber-only discussion about how AI is impacting the climate and the energy trade-offs involved in its use.
Meet the 35 Innovators Under 35, plus .
Was this newsletter forwarded to you, and you¡¯d like to see more?
Die spreker is heeltemaal
korrek dat China in belangrike energietegnologie (son- en
windkrag, en EVs) baie ver voor ander lande is, met tragiese
gevolge vir die Weste.? Die VSA sal nooit met sy huidige
energiebeleid China kan inhaal nie.? Hy verstaan klaarblyk
absoluut niks van kernfusie-tegnologie nie, en kan gerus dr Amasa
Bishop se uitstekende boek Project Sherwood: The US Project in
Controlled Nuclear Fusion daaroor lees en probeer verstaan.
Hierdie
totaal naiewe kerel noem (1:30) Fusie "the Holy Grail of
Energy", met stellings soos:--?
1. "the
fuel can come from the ocean".? Deuterium wel, maar nie
tritium nie.? Noudat Candu uitgefaseer
is/word, is daar is nie genoeg tritium om selfs een kleinerige
fusie reaktor vir selfs een jaar mee te kommersieel bedryf
nie.??
En om ekonomies te kan wees (die boukoste te verhaal), moet dit vir
dekades of eeue diensbaar wees!
2.? "the
only byproduct is helium -- there's no radioactive waste".?
Snel-neutrone dra 80% van die energie, en word gladnie in die
fusie se plasma vasgevang deur selfs die ultrasterk
magneetvelde nie.? Daardie uiters destruktiewe 80% van die
fusie-energie dra dus niks by tot die instandhou van die fusie
reaksie nie.
3. Die
diagram by 2:30 van fusie is totaal foutief:? die energie
daaruit is kineties, en selfs 'n matrikulant kan maklik bewys
dat die heliumkern (alfa-partikel) met massa 4 a m e slegs 20%
van die energie dra, en die neutron (1 a m e) 80% oftewel
14.3MeV.? Soos dr Klaus Isebeck, Kernkor se destydse Hoof van
Stralingskade so duidelik uitgewys het, veroorsaak daardie
snelneutrone massale punt-defekte, asook kerntransmutasies in
en anderkant die wande van die vakuumkamer, en
beskadig/vernietig die ultraduur supergeleidende
elektromagnete.
4. Daardie
kriogene supergeleiers moet direk naasaan 'n plasmatemperatuur
van 150 miljoen K (tienkeer die pit of? "core"van die son se
temp) gehandhaaf word in 'n kompakte toestel????????? 'n
Toestel wat jare lank bedryf moet word om die miljarde of
triljoene dollar kapitaalkoste te kan afbetaal!!!!!?? Wat van
die Stefan-Boltzmannn stralingswet wat se^ straling is
eweredig aan T^4?????
5. Die
kerel beweer ook dat General Electric gelykstroom krag
ontwikkel het (Edison het).? General Electric werk sover ek weet met
wisselstroom.
6. Die
nuttige Q-waarde (elektrisiteit gelewer/elektrisiteit verbruik
oor sy leeftyd) van kernsplytings-reaktore is van die
grootte-orde 10^2.? Die van die beste fusie apparate is ver
onderkant 10^(-12).
Hierdie
totaal naiewe kerel noem (1:30) Fusie "the Holy Grail of Energy
Generation", met stellings soos:--?
1??? "the
fuel can come from the ocean".? Deuterium wel, maar nie tritium
nie.? Noudat
Candu uitgefaseer is/word, is daar is nie genoeg tritium om
selfs een groot fusie reaktor vir 'n ??? ??? ??? jaar mee te
bedryf nie.
2. ??? "the
only byproduct is helium -- there's no radioactive waste".?
Snel-neutrone dra 80% van die energie, en word nie in die plasma
vasgevang deur die ultrasterk ??? ???? magneetvelde nie.?
Die diagram
by 2:30 van fusie is totaal foutief:? die energie daaruit is
kineties, en selfs 'n matrikulant kan maklik bewys dat die
heliumkern (alfa-partikel) met massa 4 a m e slegs 20% van die
energie dra, en die neutron (1 a m e) 80% oftewel 14.3MeV.? Soos
die destydse K, verernkor Hoof van Stralingskade so eksplisiet
uitgewys het, veroorsaak daardie
snelneutrone massale defekte, asook kerntransmutasies in die
wande van die vakuumkamer, en beskadig die ultraduur
supergeleidende elektromagnete.
Daardie koue
supergeleiers moet direk naasaan 'n plasmatemperatuur van 150
miljoen K (tienkeer die "core"van die son se temp) gehandhaaf
word in 'n kompakte toestel?????????????????? 'n Toestel wat
jare lank bedryf moet word om die miljarde of triljoene
kapitaalkoste te kan afbetaal?????????? Wat van die
Stefan-Boltzmannn stralingswet wat se^ straling is eweredig aan
T^4?????????
Die kerel
beweer ook dat General Electric gelykstroom krag ontwikkel het
(Edison het).? General Electricwerk met
wisselstroom sover ek weet.
Wel,
kragstasies is al lankal primere teikens in oorlogstyd.? Die
boek sowel as die doku-fliek The Dan Busters illustreer
dit vir WO2.? En in die Koreaanse Oorlog en die Eerste
Golfoorlog was kragstasies weereens primere teikens.? Soos nou
ook in Ukraine en Rusland.? In 1981 het Israel die Osirak
reaktor naby Bagdad net voor sy eerste aanskakeling
verwoes met 'n doelgemaakte bom wat die gewapende beton om die
reaktor deurdring het.? Die reaktor het toe nog nie radioaktiewe
splytingsprodukte gehad nie.
Sulke groot
(~1 GW of meer) reaktore in die Weste het 'n staalversterkte
betonkoepel om die reaktor teen terrorisme te beskerm.? Die
koste om klein reaktore (wat veel minder krag opwek) te beskerm is volgens
protagoniste van modulere reaktore te hoog, en volgens hulle,
ook onnodig.? Maar in tye van terreur en oorlog wil ek nie graag
naby so 'n reaktor werk, woon of eiendom besit nie.?
Assuransiepolisse vir vaste eiendom sluit spesifiek gevolge
van die vrylating van radioaktiwiteit (sowel as gevolge van
oorlog) uit.? Dis nou in SA sowel
as elders.? SASRIA dek wel sodanige skades -- uit belastinggeld
(as daar nog oor is).
Protagoniste
van klein reaktore beweer al vir dekades dat hulle reg
langs 'n fabriek of myn wat baie krag verbruik opgerig sal word,
maar dit het nog nooit en nog nerens gebeur nie.? Vir meer as 'n
dekade na Fukushima Daiichi is die nabygelee dorp Namie (en 'n
groot gebied daarom) 'n spookdorp.? Dieselfde geld by Chernobyl
se prestige science city Pripiat.
From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of bernhard via groups.io <bernhard@...> Date: Tuesday, September 10, 2024 at 4:37?PM To: [email protected] <[email protected]>, Paul Harper <pauljharper@...>, EG Jones <joneseg01@...>, Paxton Cerva - Admin 2 <admin2@...> Subject: [ZA-energie] Future -- Solar Power Generated at Night
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
Beam me down some sunshine
Elon Musk¡¯s Starpower turns on the Light at Night
?
10 September 2024
by?FUTUREWORLD
?
Dateline: September 1 2031
SpaceX has done it again. Not content with building the world¡¯s greatest space-based internet service, Starlink, and also making the world¡¯s only superheavy lift rocket, Starship, they are now offering
solar energy from space ¡ª Starpower.
ADVERTISEMENT
?
Inspired by
Using Starship¡¯s cavernous cargo bay and robotic space assembly, SpaceX has placed dozens of gigantic mirrors in medium Earth orbit. Rather than trying to harvest solar power in
space with panels, and then transmit the power electromagnetically to the ground, Starpower simply focuses the intense sunlight available in space, and reflects it to earthly solar plants ¨C at night!
The idea is as genius as it is audacious. But quite compelling. The best solar locations in the world have fewer than 10 cloudy days in a year, but they never generate power at
night. Starpower turns an asset that¡¯s idle 65% of the time into a top performer. The return on investment is incredible, despite the hefty fees Starpower charges to ¡°timeshare¡± the Sun.
In fact, demand is so great, from California to Namibia to Mongolia, that you have to bid for the most popular hours to have your solar farm irradiated at night. Starpower¡¯s online
auction site makes it easy to keep track of your bids and successful trades, just like a stock market app.
¡°It¡¯s the only fair way to sell the sun,¡± says Elon Musk, ¡°and the rates fluctuate according to the weather, season and your specific location. If you¡¯re the only one with clear
skies on your longitude, you get a bargain!¡±
At this stage it¡¯s only feasible for utility-scale solar installations to benefit from Starpower, as the minimum beam is 4km across, and there¡¯s no compensation for ¡°spillage¡±
onto your neighbour¡¯s property, so remote locations are best. And of course there are critics. Environmentalists say ¡°it messes with nature,¡± while astronomers lament more clutter in the night sky.
But no-one¡¯s complaining about having clean solar power ¨C even at night.
¡¤????????
First published on Mindbullets, September 5 2024
?
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.
Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.
From:[email protected] <[email protected]>
On Behalf Of bernhard via groups.io Sent: Tuesday, 10 September 2024 16:37 To:[email protected]; Paul Harper <pauljharper@...>; EG Jones <joneseg01@...>; Paxton Cerva - Admin 2 <admin2@...> Subject: [ZA-energie] Future -- Solar Power Generated at Night
?
CAUTION: This email originated from outside the Stellenbosch University network. Do not click links or open attachments
unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
?
Beam me down some sunshine
Elon Musk¡¯s Starpower turns on the Light at Night
?
10 September 2024
by?FUTUREWORLD
?
Dateline: September 1 2031
SpaceX has done it again. Not content with building the world¡¯s greatest space-based internet service, Starlink, and also making the world¡¯s only superheavy lift rocket, Starship, they are now offering
solar energy from space ¡ª Starpower.
ADVERTISEMENT
?
Inspired by
Using Starship¡¯s cavernous cargo bay and robotic space assembly, SpaceX has placed dozens of gigantic mirrors in medium Earth orbit. Rather than trying to harvest solar power in
space with panels, and then transmit the power electromagnetically to the ground, Starpower simply focuses the intense sunlight available in space, and reflects it to earthly solar plants ¨C at night!
The idea is as genius as it is audacious. But quite compelling. The best solar locations in the world have fewer than 10 cloudy days in a year, but they never generate power at
night. Starpower turns an asset that¡¯s idle 65% of the time into a top performer. The return on investment is incredible, despite the hefty fees Starpower charges to ¡°timeshare¡± the Sun.
In fact, demand is so great, from California to Namibia to Mongolia, that you have to bid for the most popular hours to have your solar farm irradiated at night. Starpower¡¯s online
auction site makes it easy to keep track of your bids and successful trades, just like a stock market app.
¡°It¡¯s the only fair way to sell the sun,¡± says Elon Musk, ¡°and the rates fluctuate according to the weather, season and your specific location. If you¡¯re the only one with clear
skies on your longitude, you get a bargain!¡±
At this stage it¡¯s only feasible for utility-scale solar installations to benefit from Starpower, as the minimum beam is 4km across, and there¡¯s no compensation for ¡°spillage¡±
onto your neighbour¡¯s property, so remote locations are best. And of course there are critics. Environmentalists say ¡°it messes with nature,¡± while astronomers lament more clutter in the night sky.
But no-one¡¯s complaining about having clean solar power ¨C even at night.
First published on Mindbullets, September 5 2024
?
The integrity and confidentiality of this email are governed by these terms.
Die integriteit en vertroulikheid van hierdie e-pos word deur die volgende bepalings bere?l.
Elon Musk¡¯s Starpower
turns on the Light at Night
?
10 September 2024
by?FUTUREWORLD
Dateline:
September 1 2031
SpaceX
has done it again. Not content with building the world¡¯s
greatest space-based internet service, Starlink, and also
making the world¡¯s only superheavy lift rocket, Starship,
they are now offering solar energy from space ¡ª Starpower.
ADVERTISEMENT
Inspired
by
Using
Starship¡¯s cavernous cargo bay and robotic space
assembly, SpaceX has placed dozens of gigantic mirrors
in medium Earth orbit. Rather than trying to harvest
solar power in space with panels, and then transmit the
power electromagnetically to the ground, Starpower
simply focuses the intense sunlight available in space,
and reflects it to earthly solar plants ¨C at night!
The idea
is as genius as it is audacious. But quite compelling.
The best solar locations in the world have fewer than 10
cloudy days in a year, but they never generate power at
night. Starpower turns an asset that¡¯s idle 65% of the
time into a top performer. The return on investment is
incredible, despite the hefty fees Starpower charges to
¡°timeshare¡± the Sun.
In fact,
demand is so great, from California to Namibia to
Mongolia, that you have to bid for the most popular
hours to have your solar farm irradiated at night.
Starpower¡¯s online auction site makes it easy to keep
track of your bids and successful trades, just like a
stock market app.
¡°It¡¯s the
only fair way to sell the sun,¡± says Elon Musk, ¡°and the
rates fluctuate according to the weather, season and
your specific location. If you¡¯re the only one with
clear skies on your longitude, you get a bargain!¡±
At this
stage it¡¯s only feasible for utility-scale solar
installations to benefit from Starpower, as the minimum
beam is 4km across, and there¡¯s no compensation for
¡°spillage¡± onto your neighbour¡¯s property, so remote
locations are best. And of course there are critics.
Environmentalists say ¡°it messes with nature,¡± while
astronomers lament more clutter in the night sky.
But
no-one¡¯s complaining about having clean solar power ¨C
even at night.
First published on
Mindbullets, September 5 2024
Battery Prices are Falling toward $100/kWh -- where EVs will become cheaper than petrol cars -- Bloomberg
Welcome to The Weekly
Planet, a newsletter that
provides a guide for living
through climate change.
Did someone forward you
this newsletter? Sign up .
Editor-in-Chief
at InsideEVs
First:
Electric cars are getting
smaller. Then: America
has a hot-steel problem.
Smaller
May Be Better
(Illustration
by Ben Kothe / The
Atlantic. Sources:
Getty.)
?
Ford didn¡¯t invent the
car, but it might as well have.
The Model T¡ªcheap, simple, and
small¡ªbrought the automobile to
the masses. By the early 1920s,
about half of the world¡¯s cars
were made by Ford. But these
days, Ford is only nominally in
the car business. Of the 1.9
million vehicles that Ford , a mere
48,636 were listed as ¡°cars.¡±
(Ford sells just one in America,
the Mustang.) The rest were SUVs
and trucks, such as the
ubiquitous F-150.
It¡¯s the same deal at the
other ¡°Big Three¡± automakers,
General Motors and Stellantis
(the vaguely
pharmaceutical-sounding
conglomerate that now owns
Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, and Dodge).
Although all once had lineups of
sedans, station wagons, coupes,
and hatchbacks, they now
primarily focus on trucks and
SUVs. Companies keep making
bigger and bigger cars, and
Americans keep buying them.
Visit another country and you¡¯ll
quickly realize how
exceptionally chunky the
vehicles are stateside: By , cars in the U.S.
are 20 percent heavier than
those in Europe.
And yet in June, Ford¡¯s
CEO, Jim Farley,
something almost heretical
coming from an American auto
executive: ¡°We are just in love
with these monster vehicles, and
I love them too, but it¡¯s a
major issue with weight.¡±
Americans, he added, need to
¡°get back in love¡± with smaller
cars. This can feel a bit like
hearing the CEO of
Anheuser-Busch say, You
know, Americans are just
drinking way too much beer.
Farley¡¯s primary concern with
weight is not pedestrian safety
() but
electric-vehicle batteries.
Bigger electric cars require
heftier batteries¡ªand because
batteries , those come with a
higher price tag. Asking
customers to foot the bill
hasn¡¯t worked out. Yesterday,
Ford ,
canceling a large, three-row
SUV. ¡°We could not put together
a vehicle that [would] be
profitable in the first 12
months,¡± the Ford executive John
Lawler said on a conference
call.
Ford is making a similar
calculus as many other car
companies: With EVs, smaller may
be better. But that strategy
only pay off if people actually
buy these cars. Persuading
drivers to go electric has
already proved to be a tough
ask. Persuading them to go
smaller may be even tougher.
A large part of why
Americans prefer bigger cars is
that carmakers have been very
successful at pushing them on
us. It¡¯s a matter of basic
economics: With gas cars, bigger
vehicles aren¡¯t much more
expensive to build than smaller
ones. But the former are sold at
much higher prices. For that
reason, since the end of World
War II, American car companies
have never been particularly
good at, or interested in,
making puny compacts.
For decades, the full-size
luxury sedan¡ªfunctionally loaded with
creature comforts¡ªwas the
pinnacle of American carmaking.
Over time, the emphasis shifted
to big trucks and SUVs, with
features that push profit
margins even higher. ¡°Look at
the evolution of the F-150 from
work truck to luxury barge on
wheels,¡± Ivan Drury, the
director of insights at the
car-buying website Edmunds, told
me. The F-150 ranges from
spartan $37,000 workhorses to
fully loaded tanks that cost
$90,000 and mix luxury with
intense towing and hauling
power. You¡¯d be hard-pressed to
find such expensive add-ons with
smaller cars. To goose profits,
Farley¡¯s predecessor to focus on trucks
and SUVs.
All of this has gone a
long way in shaping the way that
Americans now tend to equate
¡°small¡± cars with ¡°dinky¡± or
even ¡°unsafe.¡± Maybe you want a
Mini Cooper, but wouldn¡¯t you
feel safer putting your child in
a giant Ford Expedition? Car
buyers have learned to want more
than they need. ¡°We really do
buy vehicles for the future and
not the now,¡± Drury said. ¡°Like
the occasion where you have
family members visiting: ¡®Well,
I gotta have a seven-seater,¡¯
even if you drive by yourself 99
percent of the time.¡±
Recently, rising prices
and interest rates have meant
that some smaller and more
affordable cars are gaining
momentum, but America is still
overwhelmingly a truck and SUV
country. You can find
lots of small cars for sale, but
not typically from the biggest
American automakers. Over time,
they largely ceded the sedan and
small-car market to companies
such as Honda, Toyota, and
Hyundai. Today, Toyota sells
more cars in the U.S. than Ford
does.
So far, Ford and GM have
approached the EV era by making
battery-powered versions of the
big trucks and SUVs that buyers
know so well. At the end of last
year, GM stopped production of
its sole small EV, the Chevy
Bolt. But sales of many big EVs
have lagged behind expectations,
in large part because of the
price tags. Ford¡¯s all-electric
F-150 Lightning retails for at
least $10,000 more than its
gas-powered counterpart. The
only Chevy Silverado EV pickup
truck you can buy retails for
almost $97,000, thanks to its
giant battery, and that¡¯s two or
even three times the cost of a
gas Silverado.
Over time, as lithium-ion
batteries get cheaper, big EVs
should also come down in price
too; GM, for one, . But
the basic economics of building
a car are simply different in
the electric age. For the
foreseeable future, bigger EVs
will be much more expensive to
make than bigger gas cars¡ªand
much harder to profit from. But
America¡¯s carmakers have another
reason to start downsizing. They
face a potentially devastating
wave of Chinese competitors
selling EVs that are smaller,
cheaper, more , and . If Ford can¡¯t
compete with the Toyota Camry,
how can it keep up with BYD¡¯s ? The
Chinese company has already
introduced its models in many
countries, and it globally sold
more EVs than Tesla last year.
Right now, the only things
keeping Americans from flocking
to options from BYD, Nio, or
Zeekr are tariffs and
geopolitical tensions. But those
are a Band-Aid at best,
especially as Chinese carmakers
build factories in Mexico with
the likely aim to eventually
sell vehicles in the U.S. Or
maybe they¡¯ll just build cars in
Ohio. Donald Trump now says that
if he wins a second term, he
wants Chinese automakers Farley
has been unusually candid about
the stakes: ¡°If we cannot make
money on EVs, we have
competitors who have the largest
market in the world, who already
dominate globally, already
setting up their supply chain
around the world,¡± . ¡°And if we don¡¯t
make profitable EVs in the next
five years, what is the future?¡±
For Ford, the answer is tasked with
designing a new family of
electric models that are
smaller, more efficient,
profitable, and hopefully priced
from $25,000. GM and Stellantis
have similar moves planned, like
the soon-to-be-reborn Chevrolet
Bolt and Jeep Renegade, both of
which could cost $30,000 or
less. To convince Americans that
small isn¡¯t bad anymore,
automakers may have to bank on
the inherent strengths of EVs:
Without an engine to account
for, these smaller cars can be
designed with much more space
inside. Great compact EVs may
just result from engineers being
forced to rethink how to make
them newly appealing, Edmunds¡¯
Drury said. ¡°Put the handcuffs
on some of the product
designers, product planners,
engineering ... Necessity is the
mother of invention, right?¡±
Still, American buyers
have to learn that, no, they
might just not need the biggest
SUV possible for the one weekend
a year their sister-in-law and
her kids come to visit.
Environmental concerns take a
back seat to convenience, real
or imagined. In one survey,
American buyers claimed that
they couldn¡¯t go electric until
EVs have or more and
can fully recharge in minutes;
we always seem to be on the
verge of some imaginary
long-distance road trip and yet
we on average.
Removing such deep-seated ideas
from our collective
consciousness may be harder for
automakers than pivoting their
businesses toward cars that run
on batteries and software.
But scolding people about
their driving habits is no
substitute for making great EVs.
China¡¯s car companies have
already done that, and now
they¡¯re posting up just south of
Texas. If Ford and other
companies can¡¯t do things
differently, American jobs and
technology might not be the only
things that suffer. U.S.
carmakers may have no choice but
to respond to affordable foreign
cars by doing what they¡¯ve
always done: leaning further
into gas-guzzling trucks and
SUVs.
Three
More Things
Extreme
heat is making railways,
roads, power lines, and
batteries falter, . To
keep up, engineers need to
start designing infrastructure
for temperatures the world has
never seen.
Police
departments across the country
are now deploying electric
cars in their patrol fleets, . In most
cases, the climate benefits
are secondary.
Suburban
Utah has become ground zero
for deer conservation, . Step
one: a giant fence.
Explore .
Most
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