On Friday, the Coalition finally released the long-awaited details of the nuclear plan it will take to the election and, once again, asks us not to be afraid – of the price tag, the higher climate pollution and a range of other variables.
The primary reason the world is not embracing nuclear energy on a grand scale is simple: cost (although in Japan’s case, it’s also about safety).
The Frontier Economics report, which the Coalition is using to make its case, is written in an opaque way that makes direct comparisons difficult. Essentially, the report admits that the capital cost of nuclear is $10,000/kW, while solar and wind are $1,800 and $2,500 respectively.
I wonder, is this the throwes of a dying oil industry? Delaying the inevitable. Delay.
What happens to the oil infrastructure in a country where 95% of all new cars are EV? How long will the gas infrastructure uphold? How many companies in heavy transport can afford to uphold their own refuelling infrastructure for long hauls? Farmers have it a wee bit easier, they always start and end their day at the farm. Yet, the one (green) hydrogen plant I’ve visited was at a farmer already doing agrivoltaics.
The fall of oil as fuel can be abrupt.
What happens to oil demand if whole countries suddenly stops buying oil? 2022 it was estimated that the cost of producing a barrel of oil outside OPEC was just below 50$. Today oil is traded at 70$. Slim margins, to say the least. What happens if the price drops further?
The fall of oil as fuel can be abrupt, indeed.
We need to prepare ourselves for a life without oil and we need to start today. And at grass root level. Politicians seems to have lost the plot.