On Jan 30, 2013, at 3:45 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Edmund Storms <stor...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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.
If they become convinced the ocean may rise 9 m 80 years from now, I
expect they will restart the nuclear reactors.
Of course, when the threat is obvious, everyone will work hard. My
point is that the threat is not obvious and will not be obvious enough
to cause any change before it is too late. As for Japan, they are
going back to nuclear power because they do not like living with
rolling blackouts and high energy cost. A slow phase out is
necessary, but the power will have to be replace by something else. As
you note, wind is out. Solar is not sufficient and not steady. Japan
needs to find oil and gas in its territory, which will create a
conflict with China. Good luck with that.
Public opinion in Japan is already swinging away from the plan to
keep them all closed down, toward a gradual phase-out plan, which I
think makes more sense. PM Abe supports this. His party won.
They will also invest in solar energy to a much larger extent than
they are now. I do not think they have many wind resources, but
there may be some offshore. In Japan, people tend to solve technical
problems. They are big fans of engineering solutions.
Of course we should be afraid of fission power. I am afraid of
Atlanta drivers who go 75 mph on I-75 and 85 mph on I-85. But I do
not propose we close down the highways. We have to make trade offs
and take risks to avoid greater risks.
I agree. However, we enact laws to reduce the speed limit below what
would be the speed without laws. This is done to solve an obvious
problem, We need to solve the GW problem by doing something that
actually will work.
Ed
- Jed
