Ep. 654: Side Effects of Clean Energy (3)
Fraser Cain: Yes.
Dr. Pamela Gay: There is nuclear waste. Depending on what it is, you can take waste from one kind of reactor and turn it into power in another kind of reactor. Breeder reactors are really good at doing this. You ultimately are always going to end up with some sort of a by-product, and I keep hoping that we're gonna find more interesting ways to use these by-products because these by-products are generating heat. They're just also generating like radioactive particles.
Fraser Cain: Radioactive particles, yes.
Dr. Pamela Gay: That could kill us.
Fraser Cain: Yes, yes.
Dr. Pamela Gay: So, that's a problem I just want us to solve, and we haven't yet, and I've been waiting for us to solve it since –
Fraser Cain: Can't we – like the point here, I think, is like we know we have to get off the carbon technologies.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Yes.
Fraser Cain: We have to shift to some combination of the technologies that we mentioned. Each one is gonna work in terms of are they base load, are they not base load, do they work in your situation. Obviously here, hydroelectric, we can just run all the hydroelectric we want, and we wouldn't need a nuclear plant here on Vancouver Island, while you in the middle of the US might need a nuclear plant, or some combination of solar or whatever. We have to face the downsides of these technologies and adopt them anyway because the consequences of not adopting them are worse.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Yes. And it ultimately comes down to a balancing act.
Fraser Cain: Yes.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Nuclear power adds heat to the planet. Hydroelectric changes ecosystems in massive ways. Solar removes heat from the environment. I'm a fan. We have to figure out how to balance it all out, and the “it's complicated” comes in because we're still learning all of the variables involved. This is going to be a constant dance of trying to figure out things for the next generation, and that's how long we have, is a generation.
Fraser Cain: I mean, I find this stuff exciting.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Yes.
Fraser Cain: I personally really enjoy solving problems. I love technology, I love using technology to solve my problems, and I find the tracking this stuff and watching as it changes – you know, I love, I've mentioned this before. Like I love my electric car, and even if my electric car polluted the environment more than a gas car, I would choose the electric car for its features. I've just got like an old used Nissan Leaf, but it's the greatest.
And I think that for a lot of people, they're afraid of these new technologies. And yet once you start to implement them and use them in your life, you're like, “This is the best. I never want to go back to a gas-powered lawnmower,” right? Like, a battery-powered lawnmower is the greatest.
So, we're running out of time, so I think we should wrap here. But on that note, compromise, adapt, be aware of the downsides, minimize our impact on the environment, and move forward. Thank you, Pamela.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Yes. Thank you, Fraser, and thank you to all of our patrons on Patreon.com/astronomycast. You allow the show to go on. I now have names to read for a whole group of you. So, this week I'm going to read the names of Simon Parton, Kellianne and David Parker, Jeremy Kerwin, Stuart Mills, Rob Cuffe. Thank you for putting pronunciation guide in. Harald Bardenhagen, Justin Proctor, Alex Cohen, Matthew Horstman, Rando, Phillip Walker, marco iarossi, Daniel Loosli, David Gates, Scott Kohn, Scott Bieber, Claudia Mastroianni, Jim Schooler, Nial Bruce, Kseniya Panfilenko – I like you, please put in the pronunciation guide.
Matthias Heyden, The Lonely Sand Person, Gregory Singleton, Jeff Willson, Disasterina, Tim McMackin, William E Kraus, Cooper, Steven Shewalter, Alex Raine, Omar Del Rivero, Benjamin Müller, Allan Mohn, Paul D Disney, Eran Segev, Kenneth Ryan, Micheal Regan. And if you want to know how to pronunciation guide it, change your last name to have your last name (pronounced as), and I will love you even more.
Thank you all. You make this happen.
Fraser Cain: Thanks, everyone. We'll see you next week.
Dr. Pamela Gay: Bye bye.
