Build the solar facilities closer maybe? It isn't set in stone that these are the only places facilities can be built

Well you just change the entire US regulatory system for nuclear plants, and we can start making nuclear plants like China

You have fun trying to get that one through the congress and senate

The 80% figure I cited was for pumped water. Sorry, I should have been more specific.

http://beyondzeroemissions.org/media/radio/santiago-arias-technical-director-gemasolar-supplying-24-hour-solar-power-121117
Looking at this interview about molten salt from the company Gemasola it looks like the technolgy has come quite a ways.

"....This winter we have already achieved 404MWh in 24 hrs.... In summertime then we reached 428MWh in a single day...."

There doesn't seem to significant degradation due to Winter conditions

Solar you can store some of the excess heat but liquid salt is awful short term. Solar panels + batteries help smooth it out but they have the exact same issues as coal extraction.

Could you expand a bit on these two things? Why are molten salt pits "short term"? And why do you see solar + batteries as having the same issues as coal?

Water you have to deal with the eco/economic problem of sucking up millions of gallons of water and putting it somewhere else.

Aren't you just going to put this water in a storage facility? What's so hard about that? Pumped water for energy storage has about an 80% efficiency. This doesn't seem like a problem.

I suppose that depends on what exactly you consider a "patch"

http://landartgenerator.org/blagi/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/AreaRequired1000.jpg

Energy can be stored, and is, in pumped water and molten salt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_energy_storage . So I'd say solar at .00001 cents per kWH being stored at 80% efficiency would be a pretty damn big deal

Great to hear about what those other countries are trying to do. I wish them the best. But solar most definitely can supply all of our energy needs. Every form of energy we have goes back to solar. The amount of sunlight that hits the earth is many times over what we'd need. It's just a matter of bringing down the cost some more.

Multiple solar facilities already produce enough energy to provide energy at 9 cents per KWH, and are getting cheaper.

Oh, and they have this magic invention called the electrical grid. You put power into it, and it can take it out later. You should learn about it

It also take a lot of upfront cash. So as nice as it would be to have more nuclear energy; the window of opportunity is gone. Renewable energy sources will be far cheaper by the time a new nuclear plant opens

In some parts of the world it's tradition to make an ass of oneself all year round

Seems fishy

https://www.aurumxchange.com/rates

The exchange rates may not be negligible, but they aren't outrageous