Right now, driverless technology is joined at the hip with EVs. That’s a shame because only one of those things can live without massive government subsidies. A concerted effort is needed to move driverless technology into ICE/hybrid cars…
This is correct. If we move to an economy based much more on additive manufacturing, we will need to move fewer things and move them shorter distances. We’ll just need printer feedstock moved in bulk, and we will print all kinds of objects near their final destination. This will have the same sort of effects you are talking about here.
As a worker, then sales rep, then sales manager, then general manager, then president of a silicon robotics company from 2008 forward, I saw this future before most did. We fielded our first robot in 2009. We are rapidly approaching 20 years after. Yes, robots and AI require huge amounts of energy to operate. Nuclear is the only feasible source currently. Solar will only work when it's gathered in outer space and beamed down to earth.
There can be no question that nuclear power is the answer to a lot of different problems. And, as it turns out, we are good at it. The US Navy is very, very, very, very good at it.
The US Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program -- started in1940 -- currently propels 81 vessels (70 subs and 11 aircraft carriers). The US Navy used to have nuclear cruisers, but they discontinued that program and successfully decomissioned all those nukes.
These ships -- refueled every 7-20 years -- have made more than 150 port calls in 50 countries with no mishaps. 8000 men and women are involved in the research, design, installation, operation, and decommissioning of these nuke power plants.
More than 6200 reactor years of service and 134MM nautical miles of travel with not a single significant accident. The Navy has decommissioned more than 100 reactors without even as much as a radioactive coolant leak.
The Navy operates a school -- Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC) in Goose Creek, South Carolina -- that trains approximately 2,000 enlisted personnel and officers annually.
The training pipeline includes Nuclear Power School (six months of theoretical education) and Nuclear Power Training Unit (six months of hands-on reactor operation), ensuring operators are highly skilled in reactor management and emergency response.
A sub sized nuke can power the equivalent of 135K homes and a USS Ford aircraft carrier sized nuke unit can power 400,000 units.
The DOE to its credit in March 2025 has just reissued a solicitation for small nuclear reactors that was stalled under the Biden admin. This $900MM solicition will support utilities, reactor vendors, engineering firms, and construction contractors in developing modern SMRs. This is a huge deal.
I am bullish on nuclear.
It is worth noting we are not the only one -- China is targeting the development of 150 nukes in the next ten years.
So, I want to watch for whatever company comes up with the best way to combine transportation and energy innovation successfully and then find a way to improve upon it.
"The saying "Don't worry about being first to do something, become the second and learn how to do it better than the first" is attributed to Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. He emphasizes that while being a pioneer can be advantageous, it's often more effective to learn from the successes and mistakes of those who came before you and then innovate to surpass them. "
Yes, energy is probably the most important issue facing the world. It will be solar+batteries in the long run. But all forms will be useful. Let the entrepreneurs figure out the new sources - nuclear, solar, geothermal, whatever. Texas is a great example of how market incentives have influenced the build out of new sources of energy. The government has some role, but too often they put up roadblocks. One big thing that they could do more on is the transmission grid. It needs to be significantly upgraded, modernized, and hardened. A big cost with lots of diffuse benefits.
And one thing I'm confident of is that Trump has almost no idea of modern supply chains. Less than even Mary Barra. He's a mercantilist from the early/mid 20th century. American manufacturing is/was mostly fine. You can have some reasonable discussion about national defense. How cars get made not so much. If your theory about robots and automation holds location of manufacturing will matter even less. Let the entrepreneurs figure out where to build stuff, not the pols.
I think you are way wrong. solar in isolated instances. Nuclear is the way. Trump understands supply chains. He was in the construction business. If there is anything he understands it is order of operations.
Yes and no. I lived in Texas in those days and had a front seat -- a damn cold front row seat as my home got down to 8F -- and it was three things:
1. The turbines froze and could not operate because of icing on their "wings"/blades. Just like an airplane. Wind sourced electricity dropped to zero.
Storm clouds similarly impeded solar sourced energy.
2. Natural gas infrastructure also froze. This had never happened before. There was plenty of gas, but the valves froze and there was no instrumentation to isolate and identify them.
3. Electrical demand went through the bloody roof.
Either #1 or #2 above was enough to crash the system.
Since then, ERCOT has gotten a lot better and this is unlikely to happen again. But do not mistake this -- if you're depending on wind and solar then you better cut a deal with Mother Nature.
"if you're depending on wind and solar then you better cut a deal with Mother Nature." - or get a battery. According to Grok:
"China's grid-scale battery storage capacity (62 GW) is significantly larger than the USA's (26 GW) as of the latest data, reflecting China's aggressive policy-driven expansion, including mandatory storage allocations for renewable projects."
It is drill AND nuke, baby.
Right now, driverless technology is joined at the hip with EVs. That’s a shame because only one of those things can live without massive government subsidies. A concerted effort is needed to move driverless technology into ICE/hybrid cars…
It will change over time
This is correct. If we move to an economy based much more on additive manufacturing, we will need to move fewer things and move them shorter distances. We’ll just need printer feedstock moved in bulk, and we will print all kinds of objects near their final destination. This will have the same sort of effects you are talking about here.
As a worker, then sales rep, then sales manager, then general manager, then president of a silicon robotics company from 2008 forward, I saw this future before most did. We fielded our first robot in 2009. We are rapidly approaching 20 years after. Yes, robots and AI require huge amounts of energy to operate. Nuclear is the only feasible source currently. Solar will only work when it's gathered in outer space and beamed down to earth.
Who do you like in that space?
I've been retired for 6 years now. My pick would be historical, not actionable.
Thx
JLM
Huh? The head of GM wrong? “By a lot”? Go figure…
There can be no question that nuclear power is the answer to a lot of different problems. And, as it turns out, we are good at it. The US Navy is very, very, very, very good at it.
The US Navy Nuclear Propulsion Program -- started in1940 -- currently propels 81 vessels (70 subs and 11 aircraft carriers). The US Navy used to have nuclear cruisers, but they discontinued that program and successfully decomissioned all those nukes.
These ships -- refueled every 7-20 years -- have made more than 150 port calls in 50 countries with no mishaps. 8000 men and women are involved in the research, design, installation, operation, and decommissioning of these nuke power plants.
More than 6200 reactor years of service and 134MM nautical miles of travel with not a single significant accident. The Navy has decommissioned more than 100 reactors without even as much as a radioactive coolant leak.
The Navy operates a school -- Naval Nuclear Power Training Command (NNPTC) in Goose Creek, South Carolina -- that trains approximately 2,000 enlisted personnel and officers annually.
The training pipeline includes Nuclear Power School (six months of theoretical education) and Nuclear Power Training Unit (six months of hands-on reactor operation), ensuring operators are highly skilled in reactor management and emergency response.
A sub sized nuke can power the equivalent of 135K homes and a USS Ford aircraft carrier sized nuke unit can power 400,000 units.
The DOE to its credit in March 2025 has just reissued a solicitation for small nuclear reactors that was stalled under the Biden admin. This $900MM solicition will support utilities, reactor vendors, engineering firms, and construction contractors in developing modern SMRs. This is a huge deal.
I am bullish on nuclear.
It is worth noting we are not the only one -- China is targeting the development of 150 nukes in the next ten years.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
So, I want to watch for whatever company comes up with the best way to combine transportation and energy innovation successfully and then find a way to improve upon it.
"The saying "Don't worry about being first to do something, become the second and learn how to do it better than the first" is attributed to Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and Palantir Technologies. He emphasizes that while being a pioneer can be advantageous, it's often more effective to learn from the successes and mistakes of those who came before you and then innovate to surpass them. "
Yes, energy is probably the most important issue facing the world. It will be solar+batteries in the long run. But all forms will be useful. Let the entrepreneurs figure out the new sources - nuclear, solar, geothermal, whatever. Texas is a great example of how market incentives have influenced the build out of new sources of energy. The government has some role, but too often they put up roadblocks. One big thing that they could do more on is the transmission grid. It needs to be significantly upgraded, modernized, and hardened. A big cost with lots of diffuse benefits.
And one thing I'm confident of is that Trump has almost no idea of modern supply chains. Less than even Mary Barra. He's a mercantilist from the early/mid 20th century. American manufacturing is/was mostly fine. You can have some reasonable discussion about national defense. How cars get made not so much. If your theory about robots and automation holds location of manufacturing will matter even less. Let the entrepreneurs figure out where to build stuff, not the pols.
In the short-mid run there's got to be workers to do the jobs. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/23/business/factory-jobs-workers-trump.html
I think you are way wrong. solar in isolated instances. Nuclear is the way. Trump understands supply chains. He was in the construction business. If there is anything he understands it is order of operations.
All of Texas' incremental power is renewable. And they're adding batteries. We need all the sources.
https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/blue-states-dont-build-red-states
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-10/texas-is-ground-zero-for-the-us-battery-boom
TX famously had a massive outage in the winter. Wonder why
Not caused by renewables even if they also did have issues. Better batteries are a key component to make renewables more reliable.
https://grok.com/share/c2hhcmQtMg%3D%3D_c81fc723-b1e4-427f-bac0-dbf76eb77546
Yes and no. I lived in Texas in those days and had a front seat -- a damn cold front row seat as my home got down to 8F -- and it was three things:
1. The turbines froze and could not operate because of icing on their "wings"/blades. Just like an airplane. Wind sourced electricity dropped to zero.
Storm clouds similarly impeded solar sourced energy.
2. Natural gas infrastructure also froze. This had never happened before. There was plenty of gas, but the valves froze and there was no instrumentation to isolate and identify them.
3. Electrical demand went through the bloody roof.
Either #1 or #2 above was enough to crash the system.
Since then, ERCOT has gotten a lot better and this is unlikely to happen again. But do not mistake this -- if you're depending on wind and solar then you better cut a deal with Mother Nature.
JLM
www.themusingsofthebigredcar.com
"if you're depending on wind and solar then you better cut a deal with Mother Nature." - or get a battery. According to Grok:
"China's grid-scale battery storage capacity (62 GW) is significantly larger than the USA's (26 GW) as of the latest data, reflecting China's aggressive policy-driven expansion, including mandatory storage allocations for renewable projects."