That so-called “renewable energy sources” are not only ecological is known! That, moreover, they are inherently unstable, resulting in problems in the networks, became clear with the recent blackout in Spain.
What is secretly revealed in plain sight is that the “energy future” of an increasingly insatiable capitalist planet lies neither in wind turbines nor in photovoltaics. It lies in nuclear power. Of course, in many Western societies nuclear energy is stigmatized, rightly so. Not only because of leaks and accidents (with the most recent one in Japan’s Fukushima) but also because of nuclear waste.
This may have delayed (the next) nuclear step until now, but it does not change the “road”. What will accelerate the re-legitimization of nuclear energy are serious “energy crises”. And the 4th industrial revolution already carries them: the holy grail of all digital rituals, with the so-called “artificial intelligence” at the top, is data centers: insatiable consumers of electricity (and water). We assume that there will not be even half a user of digital furniture (from antisocial media to “smart devices”) who curses the temples of data centers. Therefore, if he lives somewhere in Europe, he should drink the bitter cup without protest: by the end of the current decade, the electricity consumption of data centers on European soil is projected to almost triple. Where will this additional electricity come from? (And which general use networks will bear it?)
The masters of digitization are those who promise that they will start building small nuclear reactors (the technology exists) – and they are the most suitable for inaugurating the capitalist necessity of transition in western societies. Amazon, Google, Meta, and the Japanese IHI Corp promise that they will triple electricity production through nuclear energy by 2050.
Such announcements may be ambitious in terms of their timelines, but not necessarily in terms of their purpose. Simply put, nuclear power plant construction is capital intensive, meaning extremely expensive constructions before they start producing electricity. This means that private “investors” would gladly want state funding for their projects; hence, broad social acceptance of them… before they begin…