Comment Re:Other green energy sources (Score 1) 577
"KISS: keep it simple stupid" is always a sound approach. I agree that relying on governments to have the long-term will to manage messes like this is an unsound approach.
Large-scale centralized systems are always going to present additional management challenges and risks. But centralized systems are always going to be favored by those that may want to consolidate the political power associated with those projects. Nuclear power is attractive to politicians and large corporations for those reasons.
The wiser approach is lower-tech, distributed sysetms that require less infrastructure. Solar and wind may benefit from high-tech design, but implementing and maintaining those systems requires much less technological know-how than does nuclear. More localized energy sources also require less power distribution infrastructure to reach remote areas with smaller populations.
In a future of increased scarcity of many resources (food, water, etc.), not just oil, smaller lower-tech solutions that do not require centralized management will be particularly valuable. Acting locally still makes sense.
Large-scale centralized systems are always going to present additional management challenges and risks. But centralized systems are always going to be favored by those that may want to consolidate the political power associated with those projects. Nuclear power is attractive to politicians and large corporations for those reasons.
The wiser approach is lower-tech, distributed sysetms that require less infrastructure. Solar and wind may benefit from high-tech design, but implementing and maintaining those systems requires much less technological know-how than does nuclear. More localized energy sources also require less power distribution infrastructure to reach remote areas with smaller populations.
In a future of increased scarcity of many resources (food, water, etc.), not just oil, smaller lower-tech solutions that do not require centralized management will be particularly valuable. Acting locally still makes sense.
