This post upset a lot of people. But, I don't care because it's the truth. Be mad at me; I'm not losing any sleep over strangers online hurling insults. Social Security is economically unsustainable, and it is the biggest state-run Ponzi scheme in history. That is an indisputable FACT. Everyone under the age of 45 should be able to opt out of it. The government has no business being involved in retirement and it shouldn't be the younger generations' responsibility to fund baby boomers' retirement, especially when most of them have more wealth than any other generation as it is. The system should be that you save your own money or invest it. And, if you spend it all, oh well, that's on you. I understand you want your money back. But, it isn't (shouldn't be) my responsibility to ensure that. This is just one more reason why FDR was one of the worst Presidents in U.S. history, arguably the worst only behind Woodrow Wilson and James Buchanan.

You want data? I'll give you data. Grab a notepad, pal. 🗒️✍️ Let’s do some math. Last week, I computed how much it would cost to power every single housing unit in the state of Georgia with nuclear fission, solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power. I chose Georgia because my opponent in that conversation lives in Atlanta. ⚛️ 𝐍𝐔𝐂𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 ⚛️ A single 1,000-megawatt (MWe) nuclear power plant occupies ~1 mi² (640 acres) of land, and has a capacity factor of 0.923 according to U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) data, meaning that the plant will produce 92.3% of the maximum theoretical amount of electrical energy in a calendar year that it could have. 🔗 energy.gov/ne/articles/what-… Thus, a single 1,000-MWe station will produce ~8.08 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity per year, enough to power 770,046 homes, assuming Americans purchase 10.5 MWh of electricity per year per household, which is the average calculated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). 🔗eia.gov/energyexplained/use-… 🏘️💡 = [1,000 MW × (24 hours / day) × (365 days / year) × 0.923] / 10.5 MWh ≈ 770,046 homes ☀️ 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐑 𝐏𝐕 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 ☀️ On the contrary, a solar PV farm requires 5-10 acres per MW (we’ll assume an average of 7.5). Solar PV has a capacity factor of 0.234. Thus, a 1,000-MWe solar farm occupies ~7,500 acres of land, but it would only power 195,223 homes assuming, once again, Americans purchase 10.5 MWh of electricity per year. 🏘️💡 = [1,000 MW × (24 hours / day) × (365 days / year) × 0.234] / 10.5 MWh ≈ 195,223 homes So, we'd need ~4,000 MWe of installed solar capacity to power the same number of homes as a single 1,000 MWe nuclear power plant, and ~47× the land area, not including the land required for battery storage. But, the figures get worse if we include battery storage required for, let's say, one week of backup power in the event of a crippling ice storm, hurricane or another type of natural disaster. A week of steady 1,000-MW load requires that the batteries store 168,000 MWh of electricity. 🔋🔌 = [1,000 MW × (24 hours / day) × 7 days] = 168,000 MWh Tesla Megapacks (battery backup) require ~3 acres of land per 1,000 MWh of generation. 🔗tesla.com/blog/introducing-m… Thus, for a week's worth of battery storage, a 1,000-MWe solar farm would require an additional 504 acres of land. And, for the 4,000-MWe solar farm needed to match the generation of a single 1,000-MWe nuclear power station, we'd need ~2,016 additional acres. That brings the total acreage needed for solar PV to ~32,000, ~50× larger than nuclear's requirement. 🌬️ 𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐑𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 🌬️ For wind power, most utility-scale turbines produce 2.5 MW of electricity. Each turbine requires ~80 acres of land (although, to be fair, much of the land around turbines remain useable for farming. 🔗energy.gov/eere/articles/win… Wind power has a capacity factor of 0.343. Assuming these figures, a 1,000-MWe wind farm will require 400 turbines occupying 32,000 acres of land, which is enough to power 286,160 homes. To match a standard 1,000-MWe nuclear plant, we'd need 2,700 MW of installed capacity by 1,080 2.5-MW turbines that occupy a total of ~86,400 acres of land. With battery backup, we'd need 88,400 acres, 138× the land area needed to accomplish the same feat with nuclear fission. 💰 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭? 💰 As of 2018 (the most recent data I could find online), there are 4,326,105 housing units in the state of Georgia. That number is certainly higher now, but we'll go with the 2018 figure for a conservative estimate. 🔗 indexmundi.com/facts/united-… To power every housing unit in Georgia, we'd need: ⚛️ Six 1,000-MWe nuclear power plants occupying ~3,480 acres (~6 mi²) of land ☀️ Twenty-three 1,000 MWe solar PV farms occupying ~184,000 acres (~287.5 mi²) of land 🌬️ Sixteen 1,000 MWe utility-scale wind farms occupying ~353,600 acres (~552.5 mi²) of land Land in Georgia costs ~$6,000 USD / acre, although that number varies significantly from one county and region to another. 🌳 🔗mossyoakproperties.com/how-m… But, if we use that $6,000 / acre figure, the upfront cost of land would be $20.9 million USD for nuclear, $1.104 BILLION for solar PV and $2.122 BILLION for utility-scale wind power. But, wait, there's more! We also must consider property taxes. ✉️ In Georgia, properties are assessed at 40% of their fair market value (FMV). But, for industrial properties such as power plants, there are adjustments for economic development incentives. So, we'll use an estimate of 0.72% on the 40% assessed value, which yields us an effective rate of 0.288% of FMV annually. 🔗georgiadata.org/sites/defaul… If we apply the 0.288% effective rate to calculate the annual taxes, then capitalize them tat a 5% discount, we get: ⚛️ Nuclear: $902 thousand USD ☀️ Solar PV: $47.692 million USD 🌬️ Wind: $91.653 million USD There's also the upfront capital investment required to build new high-voltage transmission lines to connect these power plants to Georgia’s electrical grid. For the [mostly] rural landscape of Georgia, it costs around $2.5 million / mile for new 345-kilovolt (kV) overhead transmission lines (placing them underground costs even more, so we'll place them above ground). 🔗corporate.my.xcelenergy.com/… If we assume that each power plant / farm gets 100 miles of transmission lines, then, ⚛️ Nuclear: 600 miles of lines for $1.5 billion USD ☀️ Solar PV: 2,300 miles for $5.75 billion USD 🌬️ Wind: 1,600 miles for $4.0 billion USD And, lastly, we need to consider the cost of the raw materials needed. For simplicity, we won't list all of them, but the main components as outlined in a U.S. DOE report from 2015 can be found in the link below.* 🔗energy.gov/quadrennial-techn… The cost of raw materials per source is therefore, ⚛️ Nuclear: $12.673 million USD ☀️ Solar PV: $962.485 million USD 🌬️ Wind: $144.294 million USD * 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐷𝑂𝐸'𝑠 𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 10 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑙𝑑, 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐼𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑣𝑒. 🔗thebreakthrough.org/issues/e… If we add in the regulatory costs, a single 1,000-MWe nuclear power plant ultimately costs ~$10 BILLION USD. Since six would be needed to power every home in Georgia, the total cost would be ~$60 billion USD. But, we cannot forget battery backup costs for solar PV and wind, which are astronomical. For a week's worth of battery backup, it would cost: 🔋☀️ = 23 [farms] × (168,000 MWh) × ($150,000 / MWh) = $569.6 billion USD 🔋🌬️ = 16 [farms] × (168,000 MWh) × ($150,000 / MWh) = $403.2 billion USD Thus, to power Georgia on carbon-free energy, it'd be cheapest to deploy nuclear, even with the compliance regulations. Solar and wind are ridiculously expensive, mostly due to battery storage. ⚛️ $60.0 BILLION ☀️ $577.5 BILLION 🌬️ $409.6 BILLION Do you think my anti-solar and anti-wind (utility scale) stance is just a talking point now? Or will you now concede that your beliefs are built on a pack of lies?