Comments on: Terrapower: traveling wave reactor design

By: Mr.Elmer J Fudd

Mr.Elmer J Fudd — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:52:41 +0000

Forget the silly windmills,ethanol plants, filthy coal plants, They are Rube Goldburg compaired to this idea. Every morning I look at how red the sunrise is – Look at the the air quality on the national weather service site and see that we need change, The winds are sweeping this pollution across the ocean from Asia to the west coast, our pollution affects other parts of the world also.

By: Reese Palley

Reese Palley — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 19:26:07 +0000

One small caveat. Bill Gates was not “one of the most famous technology inventors.” Indeed he did no invention at all. He subsumed the work of Xerox and Apple and contorted it into the Microsoft product.

By: Diego

Diego — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:03:35 +0000

While watching Bill Gares speech on TED, I was thinking that he isn’t very familiar with renewable energy, energy efficiency and new concepts around it. His speach was very basic with no new insights. There are many visionaries and practitioners out there that are already behind the early stage of grasping the energy problem and proposing new models AND implementing them for the future.

First: Energy Efficiency can lower our energy use by 70%. House stock: Passive houses (www.passivhouse.us) use 90% less energy than a energy star rated home (without PV). This applies also to house retrofits. Transportation: A Tesla electric car is only using 2500kWh/y. Smaller Models will use even less. Industrial Sector: I have to admit that I’m not that familiar with the industrial sector. But I think we can achieve huge reductions in the energy use of industrial facilities.

Second: renewable energy CAN deliver all the energy the world needs, but only after energy efficiency was deployed. This however doesn’t mean that we have to wait to install let’s say wind already today.

Third: If Terra Power is able to deploy a working model of it’s new reactor model, fine, why not. It’s not forbidden to make money in a capital market. Everything that doesn’t produce CO2 is welcome. Some people still want to buy power from a utility.

Fourth: Thinking that storage of renewable energy isn’t possible is an error often made. Storing it in batteries is indeed a bad idea. But in germany studies have shown that combining wind-, biomass-, water- and solar-plants can provide 100% of the energy needed all the time. For more details see: http://www.unendlich-viel-energie.de/de/strom/detailansicht/article/165/the-combined-power-plant.html Solar thermal plant can store energy in molten salt storage for up to 12 hours.

So please, don’t try to slow the deployment of renewables by repeating old ideas. I was expecting more from one of the most famous technology inventors of our century!

By: Steve Darden

Steve Darden — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 06:20:17 +0000

Martin, <> I think you need to see what Gates actually believes. I think you will find his new TED Talk instructive -- his primary motivation is exactly your point "To the rich, energy is cheap, but another definition of being poor is â€œlack of energyâ€." His wish is for energy that is half the cost of coal (or cheaper). That is why he invested in Terrapower. Bill's new Gates Notes is an excellent window into his thinking on energy -- he has been doing very serious homework. Steve

By: martin nix

martin nix — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:23:05 +0000

Bill Gates and Co. seem to be very interested in energy technology that forces people to be dependent upon THEIR energy sources, bot energy sources that allow people to MAKE THEIR OWN ENERGY. The fact is the nuclear and fossil energy interest have a vested interest in discrediting, halting and delaying renewable energy. I know, I am an inventor, and like most solar energy inventors we are forced to go overseas (ie China) to get our patented inventions into production. To the rich, energy is cheap, but another definition of being poor is “lack of energy”. Solar and Wind technologies have the potential of eliminating poverty, but vested interest are fearful that renewable energy will “put them out of business”. They are correct. Besides the fact that nuclear and coal technologies are dangerous energy sources, the fact is solar and renewable energy has been deliberately starved of investment capital. In fact, during the 1980s, during the Reagan/Bush eras inventors found themselves outright targets of covert operations. I know I am one of those patented inventors.