The Core

>trains

Never understood the US in that regard, hard to beat a good train journey.

>trains

Never understood the US in that regard, hard to beat a good train journey.

People per km^2
Japan: 333
UK: 280
Germany: 233
France: 123
US: 34

It just doesn't scale here. The high-speed rail project in California is a boondoggle and CA has 95 people per square km, approaching the levels of France. In the US, it only makes sense in the Northeast, but there it is so hard to get easements and a build a truly new route like they did in France with the TGV.

Coal in the US will just be too expensive.

Natural gas... who knows. If oil prices plummet, what happens to natural gas? I haven't paid attention.

Nuclear is expensive on a huge scale, but small-scale nuclear is possible for much less and with current tech makes more sense. Even environmentalist icons like Stewart Brand are pushing it hard as a partial path to decarbonization.

Goodnight Lenz's Law :

Patents (some ungranted as yet): https://tinyurl.com/y95pmtcq

Technical marketing : https://www.slideshare.net/ThaneCHeins

The price of solar electricity has dropped 89% in 10 years

https://www.fastcompany.com/90583426/the-price-of-solar-electricity-has-dropped-89-in-10-years?partner=feedburner

I've heard about this for years.  I'm surprised it's making traction.

https://www.rtands.com/passenger/texas-central-the-other-u-s-high-speed-rail-project/

The residential rate will drop from 9.6 cents per kilowatt hour to 7.2 cents

Holy crap! We pay 25-34 cents and will be moved to time of use rates soon that will be 42 cents per kwh during peak demand in the summer.

California is a leader in renewables, but it is also a world leader in powerlines causing billions of dollars in fires leading the bankruptcies and billions of dollars of needed system upgrades. No matter how cheap the power gets at the source, it's going to be expensive for the end user because of the distribution system, unless it is locally generated.

PGE actually has a solar pilot project for a community near here where, effectively, the whole community will be off the grid

A new standalone power system that produces energy with solar panels, batteries and generators will be operational near Yosemite National Park soon – the first of its kind owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Company with the aim of reducing wildfires.

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/california/fires/article250218710.html

So basically, there's so much solar electric in CA now that sometimes they have to pay AZ to take some of it for us, but the needed upgrades to the distribution system are $$$$

The year before PGE when bankrupt (2018??) something like 17 of 21 major fires were started due to sparking from PGE equipment.... don't quote me on those numbers, but that's roughly close.