Real global warming solutions were and are nuked by politicians
Renewable energy and energy efficiency offer a golden age of economic and environmental benefits to rich and poor alike. Instead of seizing this opportunity, politicians in the past favored dangerous and poisonous sources by a factor of more than three hundred to one. See "Asleep at the Geiger Counter" for derivation of this three hundred to one factor.
Key politicians continue to push unlimited bailouts for coal, oil, and nuclear power. Bailouts for nukes can amount to trillions of dollars. Without bailouts, not a single new nuclear plant would be built because of their risk and expense. We could have had energy independence, lower energy costs and a cleaner environment decades ago if not for irresponsible energy policy.
The
Wall Street Journal quoted the ate Dr. Carl Sagan. Sagan said that
our government was spending about as much money each year on non-nuclear energy sources as we spent during one hour of our first war with Iraq. Outrageous!
The claim that nuclear power does not pollute the atmosphere and that it is a renewable resource is a lie that is so big that it makes Bernie Madoff look like a Boy Scout by comparison. Despite a massive cover-up, there were thousands of victims from our own Three Mile Island partial meltdown according to independent scientists and the public interest group "Three Mile Island Alert". The routine operation of nukes allow so-called "safe" emissions of radioactivity. They are not safe. Leaks of radioactive waste debunk claims about the reliability of controlling emissions.
Poisonous radioactive gases from uranium tailings blow across the United States. The harm they cause has been suppressed along with the fact that enormous amounts of coal from dirty generators have been burned for the nuclear power fuel cycle.
The nuclear waste problem has not been solved and it will never be solved. A true solution requires that all the leaks of poison which already happened must be retrieved and re-isolated. This obviously can't be done, so nuclear promoters
boasted that nuclear power is so clean that not a single person has ever been harmed by it.
Global warming has already taken a toll that hints the full harm possible. But even if the worst possibility will not be quite so bad,
taking steps to reduce green house gases is a win-win proposition. The report "America's Energy Choices" published by the highly
credible
Union of Concerned Scientists (Cambridge, Mass.) concluded that renewable energy and energy efficiency can reduce greenhouse gases drastically. This would cleanse the environment, reduce health costs, stabilize inflation, stimulate a more peaceful
world, put an army of people to work, and save Americans trillions of dollars in fuel and electrical costs.
A WEALTH OF OPTIONS
* Energy efficiency can give us four times more energy than all our nuclear plants at one-twentieth the cost of building and operating nuclear plants. This estimate from the prestigious
Rocky Mountain Institute (Snowmass, CO) may extremely underestimate the recent cost of nukes. Aside from the wildly escalating billions to construct nuclear plants, a new study"Business Risks and Costs of New Nuclear Power" by Craig A. Severance, a leading expert in power plant costs, puts the
generation costs of nuclear power at from 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour. This is triple current U.S electrical costs.
* There are thousands of broken generating stations at small dams. They can be fixed to start generating again.
* Cogeneration (a conservation method) could yield much of New Jersey's future energy at less than half the cost of nuclear energy production, according to a study made at Princeton University (Princeton, NJ). This technique can be harnessed all over.
* As reported in
Machine Design magazine, decades ago, our government reviewed the thousands of small and medium size dams that were built for irrigation and flood control. The magazine showed available turbines which could be plugged into these dams to generate electricity.
Collectively these dams could provide almost as much energy as all our present nuclear plants. I met a man who was in the business of drilling holes in dams to install such turbines. The process is remarkably quick. Ronald Reagan and George H. Bush opposed this option. It wouldn't kill anyone to make the world safe for hypocrisy.
* Solar energy for heat and hot water is already viable.
* The cost of solar electricity keeps going down as better systems are introduced. Mass production of solar cells will make them cost competitive with conventional energy. This has already happened with small solar cells in wrist-watches and pocket calculators. The vast, sunny American Southwest can harvest immense amounts of solar electricity.
* Wind generated electricity has proven itself to be so effective, that it is already the fastest growing energy option.
* We can make as much super-clean hydrogen fuel as we want from solar energy, wind power, or biomass. Hydrogen can be used as a fuel
for generating electricity, fueling fuel cells, and powering cars. Solar energy and wind power can be stored during off peak hours by electrolyzing water. Use the electricity generated to perform electrolysis on water. Hydogen forms at one electrode. Oxygen forms at the other electrode. Oxygen is a valuable gas for the market. Hydrogen is the cleanest fuel imaginable. When hydrogen burns it burns pollution free merely emitting water that is pure enough to drink.
* Use natural gas as a fuel for cars, trucks and buses. When natural gas burns, it emits much less pollution and green house gases than coal or oil. There are already fleets of natural gas buses.
* We can make instant solar gas using bio-gas digesters. There are millions of bio-gas units in China and India. they put greenery in tanks which cook in the hot sun. This makes methane, which burns cleaner than coal or oil.
* We can continue to improve the efficiency of hydro-electric generating stations to get more electricity out of each gallon of water that flows through the water passages.
* We can expand the extraction of methane from land fills.
* New Diesel engines are cleaner. The first Diesel engine operated on vegetable oil.
* The
Rocky Mountain Institute is developing a prototype automobile that can deliver 150 miles per gallon fuel economy. Ford thinks that one of their research vehicles being developed may eventually do that.
* The geothermal resource in the United States has not been fully harnessed. In addition to geothermal electrical generators, heat pumps can heat homes. The
Canadian Standards Association urged wider use of heat pumps, saying that they are effective in the dead of the Canadian winter. They estimated that heat pumps that replace electric heating pay for themselves within five years.
* Use daylight for lighting buildings, with skylights and periscoping in light with mirrors. About half the energy consumed by office
buildings is for electric lighting. Much of this energy consumption can be eliminated during daylight hours, when most people work.
The list of other options is too long to include in this web site. Visit the other pages of this web site to learn more.
The Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Atomic Energy Commission once testified to Congress. He said that nuclear power creates poisons which are a million to a billion times worse than other chemicals. He said that human errors and equipment defects must not be allowed. Famous last words!
For More about sustainable energy - contact: sustainable-energy-network@hotmail.com
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THE FRENCH NUCLEAR EXPERIENCE
The French nuclear program is claimed to be absolutely marvelous, providing a model for us to emulate.
It seems marvelous until you look at it closely.
France wanted nuclear power to build nuclear weapons. They got the weapons and exploded nuclear bombs in the atmosphere, irradiating Pacific Islands.
The French program is government owned and operated. It suffered deficits that would have sunk private enterprise. They did not care about those deficits because they resulted in getting a hornet's nest of nuclear weapons.
Like in France, recycling nuclear wastes was done in the United States. It was tried here more than once. Each time, it was
an economic and environmental bust in the U.S.A. Economics went belly up, workers and the environment were contaminated. You can bet these problems happened in France, despite French censorship. Truth is hard to come by when an operation is government controlled as it is in France.
In the 1970's, hundreds of thousands of French people gathered for anti-nuclear rallies. The French government stopped trains and buses to prevent attendance. Massive brainwashing was deployed by the French government.
The French government down-played radioactive leaks at facilities. although they admitted a series of radioactive spills near French nuclear giant nuclear giant AREVA plants at Tricastin, in a wine growing region of Southeastern France. Paolo Scampa, a physicist and President of the International Association for Protection Against Ionizing Radiation, condemned the deceptive
French response in the strongest possible terms. Workers at the Tricastin plant were evacuated after contamination, in July, 2008. Leaks put a large amount of uranium in the Gaffiere River. Consumption of well water and use of water from the Faffiere and Lauzon rivers was prohibited. Visitors to a popular French tourist region were warned not to swim or fish in the water. While operators downplayed this repeated failure, Germany's junior environmental minister said "It was not a small matter".
To make nuclear power safe requires absolutely perfect performance from thousands of pieces of equipment, and thousands of people.
Nuclear poisons must be safeguarded with absolute perfection for hundreds of thousands of years. The French would need to guarantee incredible perfection to protect health and safety. Informed people know that the French can't do this any more than the United States can.
Not all French people have been taken in by nuclear propaganda. In July, 2008, thousands of French protesters marched in Paris. Some activists climbed the Eiffel Tower, protesting Frances nuclear energy policies.
France's confidence in nuclear power has been shaken by a chain of accidents which prompt soul searching. Although none of the incidents appears to be on a major scale, politicians and the population are beginning to question industry practices.
At a UN Convention on Climate Change, over 300 organizations, representing millions of people from 50 nations, signed on to keep the nuclear power option out of climate talks. Technically talented Germany is phasing out nuclear power.
The musical play "My Fair Lady" had it right when Professor Henry Higgins said, "The French don't care what they do,
actually, so long as they pronounce it properly".
To play videos, copy and paste in browser
Video (1) made by a Facebook friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmVkagHAMME
Video (2) made by a Facebook friend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqkXY4mk7B4
Nukes set to music – Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEGzPb09y2U
Video - Energy Matters - part 1 - El Sid on this video
Video - Energy Matters - part 2 - El Sid on this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2wiOo2Swc0
ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES
Natural Resources Defense Council - http://www.nrdc.org/
Union of Concerned Scientists - http://www.ucsusa.org/
Nuclear Information and Resource Service - http://www.nirs.org/
Sierra Club - http://www.Sierra Club.org/
Beyond Nuclear - http://www.beyondnuclear.org/
Wiser Earth - http://www.wiserearth.org/
Riverkeeper - http://www.riverkeeper.org/
Unplug Salem - http://www.unplugsalem.org/
Solar Discounts from group purchashing - http://www.1bog.org/
Environmental Defense Fund - http://www.fightglobalwarming.org/
League of Conservation Voters - www.lcv.org
PROGRESSIVE RESOURCES
DVDs, Posters, Buttons, Bumperstickers, Pins, Books
Postcards, T-shirts from Donnelly/Colt
http://www.donnellycolt.com
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