Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The U.S. failed to enact a comprehensive energy bill in the last Congress because the energy industry and its allies in Congress have a vested financial interest in maintaining the status quo. Now that the era of peak oil has arrived, dwindling oil supplies and higher demand means higher profits for the oil companies.
The Tea-Publican Congress recently blocked all Democratic Party attempts to end the tax subsidies to oil companies at a time of record profits.
Part of the problem lies in the conservative alliance between corporate America and the fundamentalist Christian Right that preaches a heady mix of capitalist Calvinism (the world's resources exist for man to exploit for profit) and rejection of science, i.e., the modern-day Flat-Earthers who are climate change deniers and who also have convinced themselves there is an unlimited supply of oil resources to be expoited. "Drill, baby, drill!" Besides, Armageddon is coming soon, so why bother?
This combination of greed and ignorance is causing the U.S. to fall behind the rest of the world in the development of renewable energy — something for which the U.S. should lead the world. President Obama outlined an "Apollo Project" program to develop renewable energy resources to reduce our dependence on oil by 2025, but it is Europe's industrial leader Germany — already the world's leader in solar energy production — that is embarking upon an actual "Apollo Project" for renewable energy independence. Germany to abandon nuclear power by 2022:
Europe's economic powerhouse, Germany, announced plans Monday to abandon nuclear energy over the next 11 years, outlining an ambitious strategy in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster to replace atomic power with renewable-energy sources.
Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hopes the transformation to more solar, wind and hydroelectric power serves as a roadmap for other countries.
"We believe that we can show those countries who decide to abandon nuclear power – or not to start using it – how it is possible to achieve growth, creating jobs and economic prosperity while shifting the energy supply toward renewable energies," Merkel said.
Merkel's government said it will shut down all 17 nuclear power plants in Germany – the world's fourth-largest economy and Europe's biggest – by 2022. The government had no immediate estimate of the transition's overall cost.
The plan sets Germany apart from most of the other major industrialized nations. Among the other Group of Eight countries, only Italy has abandoned nuclear power, which was voted down in a referendum after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
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Merkel, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, said industrialized, technologically advanced Japan's "helplessness" in the face of the Fukushima disaster made her rethink [nuclear] technology's risks.
Phasing out nuclear power within a decade will be a challenge, but it will be feasible and ultimately give Germany a competitive advantage in the renewable-energy era, Merkel said.
"As the first big industrialized nation, we can achieve such a transformation toward efficient and renewable energies, with all the opportunities that brings for exports, developing new technologies and jobs," Merkel told reporters.
The government said the renewable-energy sector already employs about 370,000 people.
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While Germany already was set to abandon nuclear energy eventually, the decision – which still requires parliamentary approval – dramatically speeds up that process.
Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said there are no provisions that would allow a later policy reverse.
"We don't only want to renounce nuclear energy by 2022, we also want to reduce our CO2 emissions by 40 percent and double our share of renewable energies, from about 17 percent today to then 35 percent," the chancellor said.
Whatever happened to America's "can do spirit" of innovation and enterprise, and our national pride? We are behaving like Luddites trying to stop the advance of industrialization to preserve our economic self-interest in maintaining the status quo and our way of life. Since when do Americans fear the future? Americans embrace it! We waged a "space race" with the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, now it is time for an Apollo Project "energy independence race" with Germany. We can win this race and lead the world in technological innovation and enterprise. Let's make America proud again.
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They’ll back door the plants in one way or another just like the UK did. even if they went 100% renewable, there is no way of storing the electricity for when it is needed later or at night. Lets all keep crossing our fingers for fusion power!
I am no more a fan of nuclear power (fission or fusion, uranium fueled or plutonium fueled, thermal or fast neutron, light water or heavy water, molten salt or liquid metal cooled, pressurized water or boiling water) than I am of gasoline, diesel, propane, natural gas, photovoltaic or hydroelectric power. So long as it does the job I am a neutral (as should the government be on energy source X, Y or Z).
Nuclear plants made by company X may be a hazard compared to company Y nuclear plants. Nuclear plants in Japan may be an excessive risk compared to plants in New York or Arizona for that matter. I certainly favor any and all nuclear plant operators being held responsible for their problems (and NOT the government).
Merkel states in your above quote that “The government had no immediate estimate of the transition’s overall cost.” which puts her and her supporters in the camp of utopian dreamers who think that alternatives to nuclear energy will just appear without even doing a survey to determine how much their suggestion will cost.
I am all in favor of a non-government Apollo project to develop cheaper, less risky energy sources. I have very-very little faith that government is competent to take on such a project.
Safe, clean alternative energy is the future. Fukishima and Chernobyl have poisoned the air, land, water and food in the surrounding areas. It is time to phase out nuclear energy and ramp up wind, solar wave energy and geothermal.
I’m not an expert in the utilities business, but the last poster is right on the mark. Why don’t FPL and other Florida utilities aim for the low-hanging fruit? Because their business models are based on continuously expanding large footprint electric generating plants.
Do I detect a fan of nuclear power? “The total cost associated with the catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant crippled by the March 11th earthquake and tsunami could cost the country between 5.7 and 20 trillion Yen, or $70 to $246 billion USD, according to an estimate by a Japanese research institute and reported by the Kyodo News Tuesday.” http://www.fnno.com/story/news-corner/331-total-cost-japanese-nuclear-disaster-may-reach-246-billion-news-corner “Further, the government may be forced to buy up all the contaminated land within that 20-kilometer radius, which would cost another 4.3 trillion Yen.” And let’s not forget the loss of human life. I’ll bet you didn’t include that in any cost-benefit analysis.
Prohibiting cost effective energy in Germany will further increase the cost of doing business and reduce the overall standard of living in Germany. I am sure every other country on Earth will be happy to build factories to build those widgets that would have otherwise been cost effectively produced there.