Imagine it’s October 2017. A young conservative, let’s say Marco Rubio (because the idea of the other young conservative in the race, Ted Cruz, is just too odious), has been elected President. He and his new energy secretary and new treasurer decide what the U.S. needs more than anything is some shiny new nuclear power…
It’s no great revelation to say that the mainstream media, fractured though it may be these days, holds great power. It’s not direct power; the media can’t make actual decisions. Rather, the media grabs a theme–a meme if you want–and holds on to it, and repeats it, and provides slight twists to it so it…
There are some questions that are simply unanswerable; for example, how is it that Donald Trump’s approval rating is not zero? What defect in the U.S. educational system has resulted in some actual adults, with actual grade school, high school, and perhaps even college degrees, believing that an egomaniacal, perennially publicity desperate billionaire has anyone’s…
Updated Energy (R)evolution report from Greenpeace International finds that the world can be powered by 100% renewables by 2050. Greenpeace projections of renewable energy deployment have been consistently more accurate than those associated with government (such as International Energy Agency) and investment analysts.
Updated Energy (R)evolution report from Greenpeace International find that the world can be powered by 100% renewables by 2050. Greenpeace projections of renewable energy deployment have been consistently more accurate than those associated with government (such as International Energy Agency) and investment analysts.
It must be rough to be a nuclear power advocate these days: clean renewable energy is cleaning nuclear’s clock in the marketplace; energy efficiency programs are working and causing electricity demand to remain stable and even fall in some regions; despite decades of industry effort radioactive waste remains an intractable problem; and Fukushima’s fallout–both literal…
As pointed out in the article itself, some environmentalists and clean energy advocates remain skeptical that a nuclear-free, carbon-free energy system is attainable; and we’ve had a few strong and interesting responses to my recent post The archaic nature of baseload power–or why electricity will become like long-distance. Check out the comments to that piece…
Having pretty much failed in the developed North and West, the multinational nuclear power industry is now pinning its hopes for—perhaps not revival but mere existence—on a handful of nations largely in the global East and South: China, India, Brazil, even Vietnam. Another nation the industry is counting on is South Africa, which currently has…
The headlines flash daily about major changes in energy policy in the UK; none of them good news. The slashing of support for solar, energy efficiency and other clean energy programs and at the same time an apparent intent to spend absolutely mind-blowing amounts of money on new, untried, and highly risky nuclear power reactors.…
Yesterday, an amazing thing happened. Yes, President Obama released the first real climate action policy in the U.S. ever. But that’s not all. The incredible thing—the one that will be most important in the years to come—is … they got it basically right. Including on nuclear power. President Obama just made it the policy of…