2022-09-02
The failure of the so-called "green" energy initiatives of the past 20 or more years to actually supplant fossil fuels as a viable source of energy for the modern nation (let alone also supplant the vast range of oil-derived synthetic products that many of us wear on our bodies feet and furniture every day) is now as clear as it will ever be.
Wind solar and heat pumps simply don't cut it - we need alternative energy supplies such as oil coal gas nuclear and hydro in order to power the national grids of the world.
This give companies such as Rolls Royce an opportunity to sell small nuclear reactors in volume to power specific localities around the grid (which would require some grid reconfiguration to enable neighbouring areas to take up the load when any individual reactor is out of service for any reason).
But pending all the required R&D to put that in place, the only available power source to provide "base load" for the grid is oil and gas (given that the UK has closed all its coal mines).
So what is the situation now that the west has shot itself in the foot by sanctioning its own populations by refusing to buy oil and gas from Russia?
National Review reviews the state of play (paywall, but you get three free article accesses).
