Here in the U.S., there is a permanent lobby against every power source
except wind, solar, and tides. I suspect the UK/EU/AUS/NZ has similar
characters. And even then, they start lawsuits when the wind farms kill
birds, and if developing tidal resources might kill fish or disrupt
ecosystems, etc. The elephant in the room is that renewables will only
help, but not meet our total energy needs by a long shot. This is
always swept under the rug. The joules just aren't there.
While I share some of the "green's" concerns, I'm with Nathan. I simply
think that the long-term ecological risks are less than the risks of
depending for vital energy on cultures who will use petrodollars and the
political clout they bring to undermine Western Civilization and all the
good things it stands for. Whether large-scale fracking is OK or not,
I'm not decided on, but I have my doubts. It appears to be a very dirty
technology with lots of toxic crud left in the groundwater after the
petroleum is extracted.
Nuclear is a special case, because the consequences of screwing up are
so drastic and long-lived. And many people fear it because they
associate it with nuclear weapons and pure evil. But I don't see much
alternative unless we want to revert to a pre-industrial world once oil
runs out. Controlled fusion could be the ultimate answer, but we have
been "about 30 years away" from that for my entire lifetime. :-)
And of course, we have to worry about the vulnerability of any
large-scale energy source to characters who would love to blow up enough
stuff to throw us all back to good 'ol Ancient Times, where God would
speak directly to them through earthquakes, thunder and lightning again.
(Is it any wonder why some people long for simpler times?)
--Peter
> I don't hear many voices against nuclear now, except perhaps those
who worry
> about the Fukushima problem (the flooding risk could surely be protected
> against).
>
> Chris
>
> On 22 Mar 14, at 23:22, Nathan Wajsman <photo [at] frozenlight.eu> wrote:
>
> > I think you mean fracking, not "tracking". If we in Europe are to
have any
> > chance at all to influence the behaviour of rogue states like
Russia, then we
> > must immediately start fracking on a big scale in places where
shale oil is
> > likely to exist, such as the UK or Poland. We must also discard the
stupid
> > antipathy against nuclear power. Otherwise, we will continue to
depend on
> > various nasty regimes for our energy and will need to continue to
prostitute
> > ourselves before the likes of Putin and various two-bit Central Asia
> > dictators.
--
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