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Tokens too cheap to meter

354 points · 227 comments · teoruiz

  1. abirch · · focus · HN ↗
    Too Cheap to Meter reminds me of the promise of Nuclear Power in 1954

    "It is not too much to expect that our children will enjoy in their homes electrical energy too cheap to meter,..." Lewis Strauss

    <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Too_cheap_to_meter#Origins" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Too_cheap_to_meter#Origins

    Oddly enough my power bill was metered and big.

    1. etatester · · focus · HN ↗
      It&#x27;s really quite unfortunate that the promise was not delivered, mostly for political reasons. I hope that a new wave of reactors and the dire need for clean energy restarts the nuclear race.
      1. 0cf8612b2e1e · · focus · HN ↗
        The economics are not there. Solar + batteries are much cheaper per watt today and still improving. Even better, the solar can come online instantly and expand while US nuclear takes twenty years to start generating any energy.
        1. pixl97 · · focus · HN ↗
          Eh, it looks like micro reactors are coming on line much faster these days.
          1. 0cf8612b2e1e · · focus · HN ↗
            There is certainly a lot of talk about micro reactors. I have yet to see anything materialize in the US. The MARVEL test reactor is meant for something puny like 100kw. Nuclear is something that benefits from scale -larger installations are just going to have better economics per watt.
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