Batteries

Elon Musk is building large data centers where he plans to supplement natural gas with solar and batteries. Solar panels alone cannot work because the data centers need continuous power and thus the need for batteries (storage). Here is an opportunity for the climate people to step in and suggest small nuclear reactors. They need only to outline the damage to the environment that using batteries will cause. They should be making people aware of the harm that mining, processing and disposal of the lithium, nickel, cobalt and graphite will cause. The first step would be to transfer the subsidies that are currently going to solar panels to the development of small nuclear reactors. This combined with streamlining the permit process for reactors will lead the way to clean energy that does not damage the environment. Google and Oracle are currently leaning toward small nuclear reactors while Microsoft is going to use power from the old Three Mile Island nuclear plant. Musk is going with batteries because he already produces same for his cars which are not selling. The beauty of all of this is the fact that this is all private money and not just another government program. This sort of thing can only happen in a free market capitalist system.