Warren Buffet's Two Letter Word

Billionaire Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, learned a long time ago that the greatest commodity of all is time. That's why he is religiously protective of his own time by setting strict boundaries for himself.

This leads to a Buffett-ism that has garnered a lot of debate over the years since he said it. It's a quote about the difference between successful people and really successful people.

The mega-mogul said: "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

No to almost everything?
That's a tall order. Most ambitious people are driven by results and doing more, not less. If you're an entrepreneur like me, you are relentless in your pursuit of capitalizing on every opportunity presented to you if it means growing your business and income. 

It could mean, in your own mind, having to meet as many people as you can to get there. That also means saying a lot more yeses than no's. But is it sustainable?  READ MORE...

Bill Gates' Nuclear Plants

Companies owned by billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are planning to launch the first so-called Natrium nuclear reactor project. Many experts see the project as a misguided attempt to hit CO2 reduction targets.

   Will smaller, modular reactors soon coexist with big ones like this here in Jenkinsville, South Carolina?

  
Bill Gates' nuclear energy firm TerraPower and power company PacifiCorp — owned by Warren Buffett's holding company Berkshire Hathaway — teamed up in September 2020 to launch the Natrium project. It's about a small modular reactor they say will be commercially viable by 2030.

Many countries are weighing smaller, so-called modular, nuclear reactors as a way backing up low emission energy production during the transition from fossil fuel dependence to one based on renewable energy sources.

The reactor, to be built by Bechtel, will be in Wyoming, the United States top coal-producing state, Gates said. "We think Natrium will be a game-changer for the energy industry," he said.

The US Department of Energy has awarded TerraPower $80 million (€70 million) to develop its ideas.

TerraPower says the plant will cost $1 billion, including engineering, procurement and construction costs, and is expected to take seven years to build. In the US, the cost of building a conventional nuclear power plant is around $25 billion and can take far longer to build.

"Smaller, advanced reactors like those being developed under the funding from Bill Gates and others offer novel applications, approaches, and opportunities for one of the world’s largest sources of noncarbon emitting energy, nuclear energy," Brett Rampal, director of nuclear innovation at nonprofit Clean Air Task Force, told DW.

"They aren’t that small, this is 345 MW," Antony Froggatt, a research fellow at Chatham House, told DW. "While much smaller than existing reactors (1,000 MW), they are still large and may not be as modular as intended and this undermines the argument that they can be built in factories and then shipped out, which is how they are supposed to be cheaper," he warned.

But "the next generation of advanced reactors will make more efficient use of materials, be easier to site, and offer a great balance to increased reliance on renewables in the form of always available clean energy," Rampal insisted. "The Natrium concept also incorporates a thermal salt storage system which allows for the power plant to operate more flexibly and boost power output for portions of each day without having to make significant adjustments in the actual operation of the reactor," Rampal said.  READ MORE...