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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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.
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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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Replying to @tabatkins @FremyCompany @slightlylate
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.

Jul 9, 2022 · 6:11 PM UTC

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Replying to @davidbaron @FremyCompany @slightlylate
Yeah that's def the downside of electric. That's where ground source shines.
Replying to @davidbaron @tabatkins @slightlylate
My expectation is that governments will strongly encourage homes to be equipped with batteries to smooth over the demand.