{"id":2230,"date":"2011-04-04T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-04T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/nuclear-stewart-brand-vs-renewable-energy-mark-z-jacobson-at-ted.html"},"modified":"2011-04-04T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-04-04T22:00:00","slug":"nuclear-stewart-brand-vs-renewable-energy-mark-z-jacobson-at-ted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2011\/04\/nuclear-stewart-brand-vs-renewable-energy-mark-z-jacobson-at-ted.html","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear (Stewart Brand) vs. renewable energy (Mark Z. Jacobson) at TED"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/debate_does_the_world_need_nuclear_energy.html\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/static2.channels.com\/thumbnails\/assets\/ted-com\/feeds\/96-2144\/197376\/episodes\/10314142_TEDTalks--hd--TEDTalks---Debate--Does-the-world-need-nuclear-energy----Mark-Z--Jacobson-\/-Stewart-Brand--2010---jpg\"><\/a><br \/>\nStewart Brand of Whole Earth Catalog fame is a long-time environmentalist<br \/>\nwho in recent years decided nuclear was necessary.<br \/>\n(He also decided<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.okraparadisefarms.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/deep-till-back-to-the-future-of-plowing.html\"><br \/>\nno-till<\/a> was necessary, which was enough<br \/>\nto convince me he&#8217;s gone barmy.)<br \/>\nHere<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ted.com\/talks\/debate_does_the_world_need_nuclear_energy.html\n\">at TED<\/a><br \/>\nhe debates Mark Z. Jacobson,<br \/>\nwhose new study says we can<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/how-to-power-the-world-with-wind-water-and-sun.html\"><br \/>\npower the world with wind, water, and sun.<\/a><br \/>\nI think Jacobson should reconsider including building more hydroelectric dams,<br \/>\nbut his study does demonstrate that we don&#8217;t need nuclear or biomass.<br \/>\nBut watch it and see what you think:<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<object width=\"446\" height=\"326\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http:\/\/video.ted.com\/assets\/player\/swf\/EmbedPlayer.swf\"><\/param><param name=\"allowFullScreen\" value=\"true\" \/><param name=\"allowScriptAccess\" value=\"always\"\/><param name=\"wmode\" value=\"transparent\"><\/param><param name=\"bgColor\" value=\"#ffffff\"><\/param><param name=\"flashvars\" value=\"vu=http:\/\/video.ted.com\/talks\/dynamic\/NuclearDebate_2010-medium.flv&#038;su=http:\/\/images.ted.com\/images\/ted\/tedindex\/embed-posters\/DebateNuclear-2010.embed_thumbnail.jpg&#038;vw=432&#038;vh=240&#038;ap=0&#038;ti=881&#038;introDuration=15330&#038;adDuration=4000&#038;postAdDuration=830&#038;adKeys=talk=debate_does_the_world_need_nuclear_energy;year=2010;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=a_greener_future;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=technology_history_and_destiny;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;event=TED2010;&#038;preAdTag=tconf.ted\/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;\" \/><embed src=\"http:\/\/video.ted.com\/assets\/player\/swf\/EmbedPlayer.swf\" pluginspace=\"http:\/\/www.macromedia.com\/go\/getflashplayer\" type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" wmode=\"transparent\" bgColor=\"#ffffff\" width=\"446\" height=\"326\" allowFullScreen=\"true\" allowScriptAccess=\"always\" flashvars=\"vu=http:\/\/video.ted.com\/talks\/dynamic\/NuclearDebate_2010-medium.flv&#038;su=http:\/\/images.ted.com\/images\/ted\/tedindex\/embed-posters\/DebateNuclear-2010.embed_thumbnail.jpg&#038;vw=432&#038;vh=240&#038;ap=0&#038;ti=881&#038;introDuration=15330&#038;adDuration=4000&#038;postAdDuration=830&#038;adKeys=talk=debate_does_the_world_need_nuclear_energy;year=2010;theme=bold_predictions_stern_warnings;theme=what_s_next_in_tech;theme=new_on_ted_com;theme=a_greener_future;theme=tales_of_invention;theme=technology_history_and_destiny;theme=design_like_you_give_a_damn;event=TED2010;\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>\nHere is my critique of Brand&#8217;s arguments:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.edge.org\/3rd_culture\/brand09\/brand09_index.html\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/www.edge.org\/3rd_culture\/brand09\/images\/14earth_190.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Need for constant baseload means need to develop storage, which includes<br \/>\nbatteries, but also pumping water uphill, compressing air, heating salt,<br \/>\nand flywheels, none of which are, you should pardon the expression,<br \/>\nnuclear science.<\/p>\n<li>Wind is a dilute source of power means it&#8217;s a distributed source of power<br \/>\nand thus hard to all fail all at once, especially when combined with other sources.<\/p>\n<li>&#8220;On rooftops is OK&#8221;: exactly! Put it on housetops and business roofs and<br \/>\nparking lot covers and in rock deserts where there&#8217;s no life to bulldoze.<br \/>\nOr on places like <a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/wiregrass-solar-plant-completed.html\">part of the land for the Mud Creek Wastewater Plant, which is where the Wiregrass Solar plant is in Valdosta.<\/a><\/p>\n<li>&#8220;Renewistan&#8221;: oh, come on! Put it on rooftops!\n<li>He didn&#8217;t even mention wave and tide, which are quite reliable.\n<\/ul>\n<p>Brand also kept harping on retooling weapons for nuclear fuel,<br \/>\nwhile never mentioning mining of uranium, which devastates parts<br \/>\nof India (see Vandana Shiva) and has been banned by the Navajos<br \/>\nin the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>A few of Jacobson&#8217;s points:<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/how-to-power-the-world-with-wind-water-and-sun.html\"><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float:right;border:none;\"   src=\"http:\/\/www.stanford.edu\/group\/efmh\/jacobson\/jacobson2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>He actually addresses biofuels (and destroys them).\n<li>Footprint is not spacing: wind actually requires the smallest<br \/>\nfootprint (base of pole) of any power source, and the land<br \/>\nbetween the widely spaced poles can be used for all sorts of other<br \/>\npoints.<\/p>\n<li>Timelag to get nuclear deployed would let ice caps melt.\n<li>&#8220;Baseload is irrelevant.&#8221; We need to match actual need for power,<br \/>\nwhich is higher during the day, and so is sunlight.<\/p>\n<li>\nOne of the audience members brought up<br \/>\n<a href=\"\/blog\/2011\/03\/the-plummeting-cost-of-solar-electricity.html\"><br \/>\nRay Kurzweil&#8217;s point about Moore&#8217;s Law for solar<\/a> meaning<br \/>\nthat you can&#8217;t judge solar by just its current capabilities<br \/>\nbecause it&#8217;s getting better rapidly and will continue to do so.\n<\/ul>\n<p>Jacobson sums it up:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\n&#8220;We don&#8217;t need nuclear energy.<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s plenty of solar and wind.<br \/>\nWe can make it reliable.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s real data.<br \/>\nThis is ongoing research.<br \/>\nThis is not rocket science.<\/p>\n<p>\nSolving the world&#8217;s<br \/>\ncan be done if you really put your mind to it and use clean renewable energy.<br \/>\nThere&#8217;s absolutely no need for nuclear power.&#8221;\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\n-jsq<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stewart Brand of Whole Earth Catalog fame is a long-time environmentalist who in recent years decided nuclear was necessary. (He also decided no-till was necessary, which was enough to convince me he&#8217;s gone barmy.) Here at TED he debates Mark Z. Jacobson, whose new study says we can power the world with wind, water, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,120,47,104,23,24,55,36],"tags":[8738,8719,4789,1623,1706,8737,1026,8713,4788,4787,2254,3549,8727,8716],"class_list":["post-2230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-activism","category-biomass","category-climate-change","category-nuclear","category-renewable-energy","category-solar","category-water","category-wind","tag-biomass","tag-climate-change","tag-hot-water","tag-hydroelectric","tag-mark-z-jacobson","tag-nuclear","tag-photovoltaic","tag-renewable-energy","tag-so-alr","tag-stewart-brand","tag-sun","tag-ted","tag-water","tag-wind"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}