California has the highest population of any state in the United States. It even has a higher population than most countries. At 39 million people, California uses A LOT of energy.
Additionally, California is on a solid trajectory of electrification. Meaning, it’s looking like the plan is to get everyone to switch to electric appliances as well as build infrastructure for more electric cars.
Lucky for California, it’s a pretty sunny state and it generates a good amount of solar power every day. But it’s not enough. Here are some videos showing what I mean:
If we really want to power California with clean energy and make sure we have enough of it to power EVERYTHING we need (homes, vehicles, industry), then we’re going to need some help from nuclear power. BUT hold on!. Nuclear power solves a couple of other problems the state is facing at the moment..
1. Battery Storage Problems
Unfortunately, the planet as a whole are noobs at battery storage. We just started implementing this technology and it’s far from perfect. Just this month a battery storage facility in Moss Landing, California erupted in flames and caused a huge environmental disaster. Yikes.
I’ve been screaming the solution to this specific problem: Iron-Air batteries. We don’t need lithium-ion batteries for energy storage. Check out Form Energy for more information.
How does nuclear power help here: Until we figure out how to do energy storage well, it would be a good idea to have a lot of clean base load energy. Nuclear power can provide 24-7 CO2-free electric power. And lots of it.
Another interesting thing nuclear can do here is keep batteries charged when it’s not sunny. I suppose it would be a good idea to keep your batteries always topped off?
2. Lack of Water Problems
California is notorious for suffering from droughts. Half the state is a desert. And over the past ten years, we just haven’t had enough water on hand. We did have one good rainy season a couple years back and that helped. But the norm for California is to be water deficient.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have all reservoirs filled up and topped off 365 days a year? Especially during fire season?
How does nuclear power help here: Nuclear power can run desalination plants during off-peak hours to provide water for reservoirs and provide the power to pump the water to where it’s needed. It’s really dumb that we don’t do this already.
Side Note: What Do We Do With All The Salt?
A byproduct of desalination is salt. And if you’re desalinating a lot of water, you’re going to be creating a lot of salt. What do you do with it? I suppose you can sell it to salt or chemical companies. Or you could use it to make sodium-ion batteries for energy storage ;).
Wait! Isn’t Nuclear Power Dangerous?
Death per TWh by energy source: http://t.co/HA5w0IBA6q ( #science #data #nuclear #thorium ) pic.twitter.com/AxN8qr1YEe
— Sean Work (@seanvwork) December 12, 2014
Not only is nuclear one of the safest energy sources, it’s also getting safer. Recent nuclear technology is WAY different than the reactors of the 1960s. They’re smaller and have better safety systems. It’s time we use this technology instead of ramping it down like we have been in California.
Image Credit: San O
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