Decius wrote:
] The radical left would very much like to tell me that we're
] minutes away of running out of every kind of fossil fuel and
] no other energy source is acceptable for either efficiency or
] saftey reasons. This perspective can only be held through
] self-deception. Either because we're intentionally ignoring
] sources of natural gas on the one hand, or because we're
] holding nuclear power to a safety standard that far exceeds,
] at scale, any other activity that we participate in.
]
] What is the point in being this disingenuous? I don't get it! Food for thought: Christian Science Monitor reporting on "The New Coal Rush" back in February: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/scitech/US/coal_rush_CSM_040302.html ... After 25 years on the blacklist of America's energy sources, coal is poised to make a comeback, stoked by the demand for affordable electricity and the rising price of other fuels. At least 94 coal-fired electric power plants - with the capacity to power 62 million American homes - are now planned across 36 states. The plants, slated to start coming on line as early as next year, would add significantly to the United States' generating power, help keep electricity prices low, and boost energy security by offering an alternative to foreign oil and gas. ... The jump in proposed coal-fired plants over the past three years - which would add 62 gigawatts or another 20 percent to the US's current coal-generating capacity - was documented in a report last month by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), an arm of the US Department of Energy. ... The economics have also swung in the fuel's favor. Low-cost, low-emission, natural-gas turbines sprouted like mushrooms in the '90s and their contribution to the nation's generating capacity reached 19 percent. But in the past four years, the cost of natural gas has roughly tripled: from $2 per 1 million British thermal units of heat generated to over $6 per million BTUs. By contrast, coal costs less than $1 per million BTUs. That has put utilities in the position of paying more for the gas they burn to make power than they can get for the electricity it produces. ... Natural gas gets more expensive, so we start reverting to coal. It doesn't look like they are really trying to exploit unconventional gas. Economics would dictate that since gas prices are higher, that would start to make unconventional gas become conventional gas. It doesn't appear to be panning out quite like that though. Why the rush to start building coal fired electric plants? It's cheap. You tell me, are we that dependent on keeping the status-quo of current energy prices? By the actions of our energy policy planners, it appears so. Trying to keep energy prices flat like this is going to really cause problems later. Unless this is some sort of stop-gap measure to allow more working capital to temporarily be allocated to alternative energies, I don't see this as a solution. Regardless of the safety of nuclear energy, it is not as economic as natural gas. If they're already getting the jitters on natural gas and starting to implement more coal, I don't see any shift to nuclear in the cards. Americas New Coal Rush | 
