[ExI] China and solar power

[spike at rainier66.com]

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> 
...

>...That's not the case.  Coal plants make baseload power and can't load follow.  Shutting one down and restarting it is a major task.  One of the problems is leaks from thermal cycling. Natural gas generation can be cycled because they were derived from aircraft engines...

Coal plant for baseline, adjunct natural gas for following variations.

The important insight for those of us reading this message is that nearly all of us realize the objections to carbon burning are now irrelevant.  It doesn't matter how much CO2 goes into the atmosphere, because it is no longer a pollutant, we will not run out of anything, the climate will not change noticeably in the short time remaining before AI reaches critical mass (critical smart?)  

The carbon burning plants are long-established technology, they are already commercially available with mass production, coal mines and fracking are going, we don't need to invest much in that stuff, so we can focus on the software and electronics.

>...Baseload is coal and nuclear, though some recent nuclear plants have can be modulated to 40 percent...

I am a big fan of nuclear.  Bring it along for the big party.

>...Batteries are the fastest to respond...

Ja.  Those are a storage medium rather than a power source.

>...Hydro is almost as fast...

Ja, but we aren't getting any more of that.  Too bad: it is a great power source.  It's free, storable to some extent, steady, renewable etc.

>...Running turbines are fast, startup time is in the 10 min range...

It's cool to witness that process.  I was lucky to take a tour at the John Day.  Very memorable engineering senior trip.   

>...Solar and wind are when you can get it...

Ja, these two are the oddballs in the above list.  They are there when they want to be, not when we want them to be.

>...I never worked in power, but I have read a lot about i.  Keith

Keith you and I would have had marvelous careers had we chosen that path, but we would be very different people with very different attitudes.  I have no regrets.  Power is cool.  On the other hand, we can still be involved in it as investors rather than professionals.

spike