tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post7331518036280712152..comments2024-03-07T02:00:01.582-05:00Comments on NEI Nuclear Notes: How to Replace One Cubic Mile of OilUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-58890220289959942482008-11-10T14:14:00.000-05:002008-11-10T14:14:00.000-05:00I think the 50 years aspect of this concept is sli...I think the 50 years aspect of this concept is slightly confusing, however I think it is trying to capture the idea that the time to develop the project is limited. According to the CMO article on wiki, we have ~43 proven Cubic miles of oil. If you started working on the replacement you'd have ~50 years to complete it assuming that some of its capacity would come online before 50 years was up. For example, if you wanted to only solve the problem with solar cells you'd have to install 1.8million household rooftop solar installations per year for 50 years to end up with enough power to replace 1 CMO per year at the end of 50 years. <BR/><BR/>It seems likely to me that you could more easily try and complete parts of each solution. Make some dams, and some solar cells, and some wind, etc. It seems like wind power has the closest cost to oil according to the wiki article.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09868032783772653457noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-3891282096079922312007-01-30T17:13:00.000-05:002007-01-30T17:13:00.000-05:00joffan,
I think the 50 year factor was meant to r...joffan,<br /><br />I think the 50 year factor was meant to reflect that if you built the various technology installations, they would operate for 50 years while the "CMO" just lasts one year. However, it does seem to confuse the issue. A wind turbine, PV cell, or dam (if it would last 50 years) would require no additional fuel, whereas the nuclear plant needs a small amount of fuel each year and the coal plant needs huge amounts of fuel. In fact this raises a whole different question: How many cubic miles of coal does it take to equal a cubic mile of oil? <br /><br />Initially, this looks like a simplification but the more I look at it, the less value it seems to have.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-34700197852780879322007-01-30T16:44:00.000-05:002007-01-30T16:44:00.000-05:00I saw the same error as keng, although I'd put the...I saw the same error as <b>keng</b>, although I'd put the number of 1.65MW turbines at about 130,000. The other curiosity is that the coal plants have no capacity factor (ie. 100%) but the nukes do (90%). What's the reality on this one?<br /><br />Also the basic logic of the comparison is odd... how can you replace one year's worth of oil with energy spread over 50 years?<br /><br />These points aside though, I'm glad someone is trying to make a simple comparison between energy sources.Joffanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18025437863119781181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-70451236136441570622007-01-30T15:06:00.000-05:002007-01-30T15:06:00.000-05:00Instead of saying power plants, they should be sho...Instead of saying power plants, they should be showing how much fuel from each. A nuclear plant only needs about 30-40 tons of uranium that last 18-24 months in the plant. A 1000 MW coal plant needs about 3-4 million tons of coal each year. Multiply that with 100 coal plants at 50 years and we're talking billions of tons of coal versus thousands of tons of uranium. Check out the middle of the page of this <a href="http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum=2&catid=342">link</a>.David Bradishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02439638522932781068noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10911751.post-1000711342213170802007-01-30T11:06:00.000-05:002007-01-30T11:06:00.000-05:00Interesting, but I think it contains a basic error...Interesting, but I think it contains a basic error. The solar panel quantity seems adjusted for capacity factor but the wind turbine number is not. The 32,850 wind turbines is about 54 gigawatts capacity, the same as the coal or nuclear plants but the solar is about 191 GW capacity, indicating about a 25% capacity factor for the solar panels (reasonable). Similarly adjusted, the wind turbine quantity should be about 100,000.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com