Posts Tagged ‘ energy ’

"For about a decade now, nuclear boosters have been telling us that a 'nuclear renaissance' is underway thanks to the advent of cheaper, safer and faster-built 'third' and 'fourth generation' reactors. ... for all its moral urgency, this debate usually ignores the economics of nuclear power. It is economic factors like costs, supply chains, financing and profitability that will determine our future energy mix. And so far, the dollars and cents calculations for nuclear power just do not add up." [editor's note: And as usual this writer ignores the federal subsidy of the real risks, via Price-Anderson, in her "cost analysis" - SAT] (04/18/11)

"The last few years have brought a great deal of talk about a 'nuclear renaissance' and a new bipartisan consensus in favor of building more nuclear power plants. In the hope of striking a grand bargain on climate legislation during the last Congress, many environmentalists were willing to go along with what President Obama and others held up as a sensible compromise: federal subsidies for nuclear power and more leeway for offshore oil drilling in exchange for a carbon cap-and-trade system. But the BP oil spill helped to quash that idea, and the disaster in Japan should bury it." (04/04/11)

"The Mojave, where the sun shines more than 300 days a year, would seem like a perfect home for the solar hub — unless you happen to be a threatened desert tortoise, in which case you can kiss your burrow goodbye. Across the country, environmentalists are finding themselves in the awkward position of having to choose between clean energy and wildlife: In the Midwest, wind farms ensnare bats and migrating birds, and hydropower dams in the Northwest decimate salmon spawning grounds." (03/11)