Reply To: Pitching to Arnold

[Brian H]

Lerner wrote: I think the single 5 MW units will be more important in developing countries than here. I suspect that something in between single units and huge 200-unit farms will be ideal. I can see the point that it makes sense to have enough together that you have a full-time staff, but that would probably be as low as ten units.

Also, we have been talking about 0.2 cents per kWh–that is not exactly cents per MWh.

I don’t agree that FF will be treated like fission for a generation. If it is, it won’t happen, at least not in the US, where no fission plants have been built in decades. People are not that dumb. They accept the use of radioactive materials in medicine, they know that there’s a difference based on amount, so if we can show that we are talking about billions of times less radioactivity and NO long-term radioactivity above background, they can understand that.

This is a great thread.

Your points about industrial users having their own makes me wonder about office towers, etc. Given the massive computerization of even purely white-collar work, the draw in a 10-40 story building must be more than 5GW. And if they’re designed with built-in heat pumps for heating/cooling, it could make for a very attractive off-grid option — though there would probably be some value in bing able to upload power in excess of nighttime requirements.

There is a whole lot to be contemplated in the “Unintended Consequences” category. On the upside, think of all the activities and products etc. that are not now produced because energy is too expensive. Consider the explosive boom in EV manufacturing. On the ??? side, consider the waning of concern about energy efficiency and super-insulated (and airtight, often sick) buildings. Who needs ’em?

Spin-off consequences include a huge reduction in the cost of aluminum, as power to Bessemer furnaces drops in cost by a factor of 50.

And building and operating a Space Elevator would suddenly be MUCH less costly.
😉

Anyhow, properly presented, I think there would be a possibility that having your own “neighborhood FF generator” would get to be a point of civic pride in some areas, and where the opinion-leaders go, a herd is sure to follow! 😆