No, Jed, it is not nonsense. It is simply a difference of opinion.
Yes, the Chinese are working hard to get energy. Meanwhile the
Japanese are burning more fossil fuel because they are afraid of
fission power, which we all should be. The issue is not what we might
do or could do if we were smart. The question is what will we actually
do. Yes, we lack the will - that is my point. This approach will only
change after the problem becomes obvious to the least smart among us.
That is the way the system has always functioned, I'm very sorry to
say. So live with it rather than wasting time wishing things were
different.
Yes, France has been lucky and very smart. This is a very rare
condition among nations, which the history that you respect
demonstrates. Meanwhile, a big part of the Ukraine and Japan can not
be inhabited. If the cooling pond at Fukushima collapses, much of the
world will suffer the same fate. You can also be sure that the race
to build reactors rapidly in China will have its own demonstrations of
incompetence.
Nevertheless, we need to discuss reality, not what we hope might be
real someday.
Ed
On Jan 30, 2013, at 2:11 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Edmund Storms <stor...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
Jed, it is too late because no practical way exists to stop burning
fossil fuels.
I am sorry but this is nonsense. The Chinese are presently building
30 nuclear power reactors, and they are installing roughly that much
wind power. If the U.S., Europeans and the Japanese were to build
reactors, wind and solar at that rate, and if all First World
countries were to aggressively develop plug-in electric cars and
pure electric cars in crash projects, within 20 years we could
reduce fossil fuel use by a large margin. We could export this
technology to the Third World.
We could also begin massive reforestation projects to capture CO2.
We could also help Third World people replace kerosene illumination
with solar powered LED lights.
These projects would cost a great deal of money but they would also
have many benefits aside from reversing global warming.
There are countless other ways we could rapidly reduce fossil fuel
use. We lack only the will, not the means. Even without cold fusion
we could stop the threat of global warming in a generation, and make
a huge profit doing it.
The demand for energy is rising too rapidly, especially in China. It
is impossible to satisfy this demand without burning coal, natural
gas, and oil.
This is simply not true. It hasn't been true since commercial
nuclear power was developed. There is a huge supply of uranium in
the world. In France, they get 80% of their electricity from it!
Fukushima demonstrated the risks and disadvantages of nuclear power.
Obviously it is not ideal. Nothing is. It is better than continuing
with fossil fuel and raising the sea level by 9 m in 80 years.
- Jed
