Quote:
Originally Posted by wstar
I don't think it's as bad as you think. New nuke plants are already getting traction, you can google about it, it's happening. If demand starts spiking due to electric cars (which will be gradual anyways), power companies will simply make their rates more progressive, charging more for peak than off-peak usage, encouraging people to charge their cars overnight when demand is typically lower. A lot of metro areas are also looking at incentive programs to start making the grid more resilient. Think solar panels on everyone's house to feed the downtown office buildings during the day, etc.
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It will be bad for a short while just because of how long it takes to get approval and to build a power plant (10+ years!). Hopefully they are learning their lesson to look ahead so we don't end up with the rolling blackouts that Cali experienced in the past.
Subsidizing distributed power is a good idea but it takes money and so the government needs to have funds to buy in. Germany has been doing this with huge success in the past few years. People are buying subsidized solar panels (cheaply) and sticking them on their roofs to sell power back into the grid. Farmers are allocating fields and setting up solar farms because it is more profitable than actual farming. There are some rebates here but they vary by state, and some states have none.