America’s new high-risk, high-reward $20 billion climate push
wapo.st
The Environmental Protection Agency is awarding $20 billion to nonprofit organizations to help finance projects that boost clean energy and reduce emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday awarded $20 billion to help finance clean-energy projects across the country, marking one of the Biden administration’s biggest investments in combating climate change and curbing pollution in disadvantaged communities.

  • wildbus8979
    51·
    8 months ago

    https://www.synapse-energy.com/sites/default/files/SynapsePaper.2008-07.0.Nuclear-Plant-Construction-Costs.A0022_0.pdf

    Companies that are planning new nuclear units are currently indicating that the total costs (including escalation and financing costs) will be in the range of $5,500/kW to $8,100/kW or between $6 billion and $9 billion for each 1,100 MW plant.

    …

    These estimated costs translated into a projected total cost of $12.1 billion to $17.8 billion, for just two 1100 MW plants.

      • wildbus8979
        42·
        8 months ago

        What’s your point exactly? That we shouldn’t do it because they cost money?

        Doesn’t change that this is a stupid loan and not real infrastructure investment, and that it is unlikely to have a significant impact on climate change. Performative.

        • ABCDE@lemmy.world
          32·
          8 months ago

          The point seemed pretty clear. The cost is not what is quoted initially.

          • wildbus8979
            24·
            8 months ago

            Fine, they could have built one nuclear power plant and maintained one existing one. Happy?

            • ABCDE@lemmy.world
              21·
              8 months ago

              Being factually correct is important. Don’t get snarky with me because someone dared to contradict you.

        • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
          1·
          8 months ago

          Mostly that renewables and electrification are a better use of money right now. Nuclear’s high price means that it competes with things like seasonal storage. We may well build some in the 2030s, but that requires it being able to keep prices down so that the high volumes of seasonal storage we would otherwise need aren’t cheaper.

          • wildbus8979
            11·
            8 months ago

            That’s fine, but we need the capacity for it, we need investment in production and transport and those are the investment that local level governance can’t make, unlike EV charging stations. And without those, these EV charging stations will only go so far.

            • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
              1·
              8 months ago

              Yes, we need a lot of things, not just EV charging stations. The Biden administration has been announcing one thing after another at a rate of 1-2 per week. If you’re watching c/climate you’d see that.

              • wildbus8979
                11·
                8 months ago

                On the other hand he’s approved more new oil drilling than Trump.

                https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2024/01/30/biden-administration-oil-drilling-permits-outpace-trump-ee-00138376

                President Joe Biden has approved nearly 50 percent more oil and gas drilling permits for wells on federal land since taking office than former President Donald Trump did in his first three years, according to newly released data from the Interior Department.

                Funny how c/climate isn’t posting that part.

                • silence7@slrpnk.netOP
                  11·
                  8 months ago

                  We know exactly what he’s done. Oil drilling permits are considered a property right by the courts once a lease is issued; the President can’t as a rule say ‘no’ — all he can do is set the terms.

                  What Biden did was to sharply curtail leasing:

                  We will eventually need to change the law so that existing leases aren’t treated as a property right like that, but we haven’t had the votes in Congress to do that.

                  • wildbus8979
                    11·
                    8 months ago

                    Sure, but before that he held the single largest oil rights auction in US history, right after COP26 no less.

                    https://www.newsweek.com/biden-admin-set-auction-off-over-80-million-acres-offshore-drilling-1649242

                    The Biden administration is preparing to sell off more than 80 million acres of the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling companies in the largest federal offshore drilling auction in U.S. history—less than a week after the UN climate change conference COP26

                    The 80 million acres on sale is expected to produce around 1.12 billion barrels of oil and 4.2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas over the next 50 years.