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https://www.yahoo.com/news/switzerland-votes-phase-nuclear-energy-121710224.html
Swiss voters have backed government plans to replace the power from ageing nuclear reactors with renewable energy.
A total of 58.2 per cent of voters supported the phaseout of nuclear energy in a binding referendum on Sunday. Under the Swiss system of direct democracy, voters have the final say on major policy issues.
The plan will provide billions of pounds in subsidies for renewable energy, ban the construction of nuclear plants and decommission the country’s five existing ones, which produce about a third of the country’s electricity.
[...] The move echoes efforts across Europe to reduce dependence on nuclear energy and has been in the making following Japan’s Fukushima disaster in 2011. Germany has announced it will close all nuclear plants by 2022 and Austria banned it decades ago.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by idiot_king on Tuesday May 23 2017, @02:28AM (3 children)
Nuclear is a relic of the age where destroying entire cities with a bomb and poisoning their people with radiation would win you the title of "the good guys." That's the only reason why nuclear energy was even sought after in the first place: it was research meant to produce weapons of war. Nothing else.
We're done with it. Fukushima and Chernobyl both proved that nuclear's only use is ruining land and sea.
Wind and solar only, thank you very much.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @02:43AM (2 children)
Nuclear . . . destroying entire cities . . . That's the only reason why nuclear energy was even sought . . . to produce weapons of war. Nothing else.
-idiot_king
I left a post on the previous page you might be interested in. Tell me, oh idiot_king - if we phase out all other sources of energy tonight, leaving only wind and solar, how long do you think you will survive? Are you comfortable ensconced on a hundred acres of arable land, equipped with horses, mules, sheep and/or cattle, and maybe a hydroelectric plant of your own? No? Didn't think so. Long story short, you will not survive if the world shuts off all of it's polluting energy sources tonight, never to be restarted. The global population would probably drop below 2 billion, within five years. Maybe lower than that. Unless the survivors found the keys, and restarted some of the dirty, ugly energy producing plants again.
You probably don't take me seriously, so, one question: How in the hell did Wal-Mart get those groceries on their shelves? They don't just magically grow there, waiting for you to come pick the containers off the shelves!!
(Score: 2) by idiot_king on Tuesday May 23 2017, @05:06AM (1 child)
I'm going to overlook the overall aggressive tone of your post.
Apparently you aren't familiar with the increasing viability of new technology.
It doesn't take that long to realize that a solar roof and a few windmills more than power a single house. Increasing efficiency of things as simple as lightbulbs or complex as computers means our average consumption level goes down. This means less power load and less windmills/solar cells necessary.
On top of that, the price of these things is always dropping. The more we fund them, the better they get. Ever notice how we got better at extracting oil and coal the more we've used them? Now imagine that for sunlight and wind. The possibilities are endless. The onward march of science practically ensures this.
You don't doubt that, do you? Certainly in your own life, you've been blown away by the marvels that have been invented.
Why start doubting them now, when they are so much better than what we've had before?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 23 2017, @01:46PM
"I'm going to overlook the overall aggressive tone of your post."
ROFLMAO - that nonsense doesn't mean anything at all, now does it?
As for solar roofs and such - where you gonna get all those solar roofs? You do realize that all the solar panel manufacturers are working at capacity, and their production is spoken for, years in advance. Seriously, you can find that information for yourself. US panel manufacturers aren't even selling solar panels in the US, because their production is sold in advance to Europe. I guess maybe us Soylentils could combine our resources to open up a new manufacturing plant, to hasten the day when we can shut down the last coal powered generator. Except, we'll be going into direct competition with the existing plants for the raw materials. We'll probably end up on a waiting list.
A lot of the delay in solarizing everyone's homes is political, sure, but you can't just open up the earth, and dig up enough raw materials to supply every man, woman, and child on earth with gigawatts of energy.
Yeah, the possibilities are endless, but it ain't happening overnight. No technology in the history of man was adopted on a global scale, overnight. The internet may be an exception - that happened practically overnight. But, it took decades for Henry Ford to sell a car to half the families in America. It took even more decades for oil to reach it's zenith.
I'm not arguing against renewables, I'm just trying to make you understand that it doesn't all happen at the snap of a finger. You children or grandchildren may live to see an all-renewable world. You and I probably won't.