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Right now, one of the biggest problems we face is clean renewable energy. The answer has been around for decades. Nuclear energy.
There is a train that travels from Avignon, France to Paris at a speed of 200 mph. It is completely carbon free, and non-polluting. This train is fueled by plutonium from nuclear power plants and weapons. It reduces radioactivity in nuclear waste by 90%.
In the past 50 years, nuclear energy has killed less than 100 people, 56 of these at Chernobyl. In 50 years the WHO estimates that 100 million people have died from air pollution from combustion products. Poisoning from coal smoke killed 5,000 in London in 1952. In five years in Europe wind turbines have killed over 200 people.
High level waste from the UK and France is stored as chunks of glass packed in stainless steel containers buried a few meters underground. La Hague, Normandy is where France's supply of nuclear waste is buried. Standing directly above this site the radiation level is only .25 microsieverts an hour, 20x less than you'd find in any long distance passenger plane.
Each year CO2 emissions if turned solid would make a mountain 16 miles in circumference.
source- James Lovelock
This is the world's solution to global warming, carbon emissions, and foreign dependancy on oil. Unfortunatley hippies from the sixties are now in power in all levels of government. They have an irrational fear of anything nuclear. Big oil won't let on because cars could run for quite some time off of batteries charged by nuclear power.
This is the way to go.
yeah but isn't the half life for nuclear waste around ummmm forever or some crazy crap like that? We would still be polluting though when we dispose of the waste from nuclear energy, unless they could find a way to use that too guess.
yeah but isn't the half life for nuclear waste around ummmm forever or some crazy crap like that? We would still be polluting though when we dispose of the waste from nuclear energy, unless they could find a way to use that too guess.
hmmm one can wonder if our cure is also a poison. With no place to get rid of the spent fuel we are selling our future for today.
Geothermal sources are available and untapped. Wind, and tidal sourses are also waiting to be used. Solar??? Not much prospect there yet.
They need to spend some money on research and I mean real money. Like what the Iraq war is costing us...
Sure you can live with it, only because you are driving a car running on fuel that gives you about 100 calories of energy for a handful of calories in energy on your part and the part of the oil/gas companies. It is a great investment. Sparkplugs are a trivial maintanence cost to tap into that kind of fuel source, especially if you live some place there isn't an easy alternative.
I'm not sure the average American is ready to live in a country dependent on wind and solar farms- energy conservation would have to be stepped up and people would have to stop laughing at the idea of banning incandescent lighting. It will mean changing the way people live, certainly. That's why nuclear energy has to have a place in the future if we have reduction in coal usage as a goal without also having to resort to stiff conservation.
Realistically, people in this country can be ready or not however they like, either way we're going to have to change something. People are going to have to change the way they live b/c eventually certain things are going to become too expensive to continue
gas prices going up/less driving
water bill climbs/don't run water when you brush teeth
resources are finite, and when the danger of them running low becomes real, regardless of whether people like, they'll have to adapt i.e. gas crisis in the '70's
resources are finite, and when the danger of them running low becomes real, regardless of whether people like, they'll have to adapt i.e. gas crisis in the '70's
True and the use of nuclear energy as the solution might indeed be worse than the problem.
Just because our society needs more and more energy does this mean that we should get it. Just because our demands keep increasing does this mean that we should get whatever it is we want. In the end our addiction to luxury will become a problem.
It's to be expected that when consumers plug an appliance into an outlet they can't tell how that power was produced.
None of those posts talk of costs. How much is government subsidzed? What is the true cost when all items (construction, operation, anti-terror security, de-construction, waste transportation and storage) are factored in?
Just because our demands keep increasing does this mean that we should get whatever it is we want. In the end our addiction to luxury will become a problem.
Yep - I love my 80 inch Plasma HD Flat Screen. I love my radio and stereo. I love my electric lights - both reading and mood lighting. I love my pool and spa. I love my computer - my rechargeable cell phones and Bluetooths.
Yep, all of the above, and more, are causing the problems.
Then - there are the two SUV's in the garage ...and ....
It's to be expected that when consumers plug an appliance into an outlet they can't tell how that power was produced.
None of those posts talk of costs. How much is government subsidzed? What is the true cost when all items (construction, operation, anti-terror security, de-construction, waste transportation and storage) are factored in?
I couldn't have said it better.
Also the fact that people are apathetic or ill-informed about it does not mean it is safe.
Because the population thinks it is safe ( wishful thinking in my opinion) does not make it safe.
I don't trust Nuclear power, nuclear armament and I don't trust our ability to control it. Anything which cannot be extracted safely, transported safely, stored safely or disposed of safely ( and cleanly for all those cases) is hardly what I would call safe. Others obviously have far more faith in it than I do. I find it utter madness.
We need to lower our energy requirements and increase our energy efficiency. And look at alternatives. The science is there and has been there for decades.
Nuclear is seen as something fabulous because of a huge political lobby, misinformation to the public and laziness on our part to try and behave responsibly where energy is concerned. We behave as though there is no tomorrow in our wasteful and energy greedy ways, and if we carry on treating nuclear as the answer to all our problems there might just never be one.
Imagine 9/11 except with a nuclear power plant as its target. Then multiply this by a hundred and even more.
It's time for us to grow up and realise we cannot live above our means in terms of natural resources. The Planet will almost certainly bounce back at some point from whatever horrors we inflict upon it but I would really like to see a world where we don't wipe ourselves and the majority of the ecosystem off the map.
Time to behave responsibly and learn that wanting something does not mean we are entitled to it.
We'll have to pay our debt to the universe one day ( the deadline is coming up ) and it's going to be a biggie. No late payments possible.
I couldn't have said it better.
Also the fact that people are apathetic or ill-informed about it does not mean it is safe.
We need to lower our energy requirements and increase our energy efficiency. And look at alternatives. The science is there and has been there for decades.
What, exactly, would you suggest be done to lower our energy requirements?
Yep, all of the above, and more, are causing the problems.
Yep, they all cost energy and I bet you don't care how you get it as long as it is cheap. Everything has a prize and some costs can’t be paid off with money tho.
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Just because our demands keep increasing does this mean that we should get whatever it is we want. In the end our addiction to luxury will become a problem.
Everything has a prize and some costs can’t be paid off with money tho.
