I've read somewhere that the baseload thing is a myth and that solar+wind doesnt really need baseload power at all. Is this true?
I've also read that battery costs are already low enough for energy storage to not be a financial hurdle in full decarbonization. So if this is true, why do we even need nuclear?
Pump water up hill into tank when extra power, run water back down through turbines when no extra power. Checkmate petro-cucks.
This is useful but there are some geographic restrictions for it
Solar doesn't return a net energy gain. Wind is pretty close but I know it can work in some instances where wind is a constant like Scottland, but solar panels suck in the desert. As for energy storage That's gonna need to be a thing regardless, chemical storage is expensive and impractical but sort of the standard rn. You can make physics based batteries though using pressurization and gravity to store energy as well and that's probably the way forward in my very uninformed opinion.
Tldr nuclear power and cave batteries
Solar doesn’t return a net energy gain.
Relative to the energy expended to produce the infrastructure or something else?
Source on that solar net energy thing? Google gives me nothing.
The battery thing isn't true. Lithium ion batteries are cheaper than ever before, but the problem is there literally isn't enough lithium in the ground to run the world on wind and solar. Perhaps this would be possible with other battery technologies that haven't been developed yet, but it isn't true now. New technologies would be needed to completely decarbonize without nuclear. (Yes, I know pumped storage exists. It's inefficient and requires specific geographic features.)
I saw an interesting thing about flywheels being a potential solution to power storage. Set them up in a near vacuum with minimal friction and they can store power for 6-8 hours. Doesn't sound like much but you usually only need them at night time so that's plenty.
Pumped water can work but requires the correct geography. Molten salts works quite well too with fewer drawbacks.
Are there simple environmentally friendly batteries that don't require things like lithium? Seems like weight and size aren't an issue for grid-connected battery storage
Just give me space based solar collectors that beam down microwaves to converter stations on the ground. As a bonus, we can use them as for solar sails or to melt fascists from space.
