Comment Re:Renewable versus fossil - where is nuclear? (Score 1) 292
The idea that we can not produce enough "green" energy is simply idiotic, and certainly not insightful.
Can vs. should. Many more people are dying falling off roofs installing solar panels than have ever died from a nuclear power plant. Fear is a motivation that achieves terrible results.
"Oh, it's just human lives - I'll take my fear, thanks" seems to be the current attitude of the econuts. We can't call them 'greens' or 'environmentalists' because they're really just supporting coal power, empirically. Real environmentalists rationally seek solutions that minimize environmental impact. Unless depopulation is also a goal, but why would they want to depopulate the solar installers first?
Covering 1/4 of New Mexico has been proposed as well - fewer roof-fall deaths, but an ecological disaster to fence of that much environment (not to mention the impact of the rare-earth mining in China that fuels these things).
Maybe Gates will come up with the needed order-of-magnitude improvement that we need. But it won't be on rooftops because the very best we can mathematically hope for is a low single-digit multiplier (3 would be *amazing*, 4 approaches impossible).