Bill Gates, clean energy, and nukes

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2 ... oomed.aspx

Surprised me if it is accurate. Gates dissing wind and solar and investing in nukes? I pictured him as a tree-hugger type.

I kinda agree with him. Wind and solar are fine, but not going to power the total base load 24/7. Long term we need about 70% Nuke and Natural gas, maybe 30% wind, solar and hydro.

Last week, he damned the industry with faint praise at a NYC conference, calling wind and solar energy "cute," but hardly the solution to our problems. Says the original Mr. Softy, it doesn't matter how efficient wind and solar technology become. Neither tech possesses the necessary oomph to "deal with our climate problem …

Last year, Gates joined other investors in providing a $35 million cash infusion to TerraPower, a start-up that has designed a nuclear reactor capable of running 50 years without refueling.

$35 million is really pocket change for mr. softy though.

Nuclear is the future - the approach is the issue.

deltamrey wrote: Nuclear is the future - the approach is the issue.

Perhaps. You recall the research done to send electricity wirelessly? Well, you can harvest solar power 24/7 and beam it back to earth via mirrors in orbit. I can see some of that happening unless we manage to do a much better job with nuclear.

I just don't see how we can currently afford to push these expensive and inefficient new energy sources as our economy is crumbling under debt and unemployment. If I'm nearing bankruptcy, you won't be seeing me spending 20k on solar panels that will take me 10 years to recoup my investment...I would be broke long before.

We need cheap energy more now than ever in our history, yet we are NOT doing everything possible to get that energy and create REAL jobs that will not be paid by taxpayers.