I'm no defender of fission power, and yet, this is catastrophically stupid.
Gérard Araud @GerardAraud
8 Jul 2022
While closing its nuclear power plants…
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I am a defender of fission power and this is just so incredibly stupid.
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Me too, huge mistake to close them, and super happy Belgium changed course; but the replacement of electrical Nuclear plants covers only a very small fraction of gas imports. Most gas is used for heat, not electricity.
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Replying to @FremyCompany @tabatkins @slightlylate
At some point we do need to start using (renewable) electricity for heat. Ground source heat pumps are probably most efficient, but also hardest to retrofit into existing construction.

Jul 9, 2022 · 3:56 PM UTC

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Replying to @davidbaron @FremyCompany @slightlylate
Air source heat pumps work just fine now across the majority of settled land, especially with a bit of electric heat backup.
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The demand resulting when everybody's electric backup kicks in can be bad. In the early 1990s I remember the western suburbs of Philadelphia having roving blackouts on the coldest days of the year (perhaps nighttime low around 5°F/-15°C) due to then-new houses with that setup.
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Replying to @davidbaron @tabatkins @slightlylate
It would make sense. At least in Belgium a ban on gas heating has been voted already and will be in place in a couple of years, but how that will be possible to implement in practice is not yet clear... But industrial processes are even more challenging to adapt.
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