On 15/10/2020 10:38, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 15/10/2020 09:53, Jeff Layman wrote:
Assuming there will be enough natural energy available across the world
at any time to supply /all/ the world's demands (solar, wind, wave,
hydro, geothermal, etc), then if interconnected on a world-wide grid one
country could ....

...exceed the cost of building, and the carbon footprint, of an all
nuclear local fleet by an order of magnitude, as well as reducing energy
security to absolute zero.

I don't have a great issue with nuclear power stations, but many do, and
they are a bit of a political pariah. On the other hand, "renewables"
seem to be acceptable. And as for cost, I think you'll find things have
changed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_electricity_by_source#Global_studies

The Russians already grappled up one undersea cable with a submarine
and snapped it...just testing...

You are talking about communication cables, not power cables. In any
case, oil and gas pipelines have been damaged and disrupted for many
years by terrorist groups, so for a power cable it wouldn't be anything
new. Having said that, have any overland high voltage power cables been
blown up in recent years?

And covering the entire land surface of the globe in solar panels and
windmills may nor be enough anyway...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy#/media/File:Solar_land_area.png

--

Jeff