How to scale nuclear power
Alright. Since I work for one of America&#x27;s largest utilities I&#x27;m going to point out something that apparently isn&#x27;t all that popular to say:<p>We have plenty of energy already<p>The entirety of our generation capacity is aimed at delivering energy during peak use, which is 8 hours per day. That is 1&#x2F;3 of the day. The other 1&#x2F;3 of the day is much less energy intensive, and the final 1&#x2F;3 hardly registers in comparison. Coal plants can&#x27;t be powered down so if they&#x27;re generating too much then the excess is sent to ground. Literally, we spend 1&#x2F;3 of the day pumping energy into the ground. Ditto for today&#x27;s nuclear power plants. Yet people keep saying we don&#x27;t have enough energy.<p>What we don&#x27;t have is two things:<p>1. A distribution system capable of handling 24&#x2F;7 load. The lines feeding your neighborhood were never meant to be run 24&#x2F;7 and the equipment is undersized to cool down properly. You need to upgrade so they don&#x27;t overheat and cause problems. Remember, they&#x27;re only meant to be run hard for 8 hours per day and they&#x27;re used to not being used much at night so they can cool down in the cool night air. More nuclear generation isn&#x27;t goin to do squat about that problem.<p>2. Smart load management. Yes, industry can&#x27;t shift load as much - but residences can. Don&#x27;t charge your EV while you&#x27;re using your oven. Things like that. Collectively there&#x27;s plenty of power to power everything you need - we just need to be a little smarter in scheduling that power. You need to manage your peak rate. We need smart plugs that shut of when you&#x27;ve reached your peak usage rate. Shut off the EV, shut off the electric water heater - you should be able to program what you want done and get alerts that you&#x27;re going over your peak load. Load management needs to be part of our lexicon.<p>Continuing to do what we&#x27;ve been doing is not the path forward.