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From: "Mark Lause" <[email protected]> > [...] Unless the proponents of nukes are suggesting that the > Left should emblazen the call for nuclear power on our banners--and I > don't > think they are--this entire discussion has no more merit than sitting > around > a bar arguing over the existence of bigfoot. Actually and speaking for myself I think that's imperative. The left has to have a more credible policy prescription wrt energy than "stop using so much of it", especially considering that much of the world isn't using hardly any, and they need it to have decent lives. In Spain for instance, about half the electricity comes from fossil fuels. While there's a huge public push for wind and solar, that is not going to be able to substitute the nuclear power plants that are likely to be closed in the near future, much less help reduce the use of coal and natural gas, as required due to climate change concerns. Nuclear power is clearly the only way out of this quandry. Let's check this article, for instance, which in my view is rather optimistic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Spain First off, it's true some autonomous communities have achieved high rates of renewable production. But this hides two questions: 1) such production is overwhelmingly hydro and wind, and 2) they have very little industry to speak of. The first fact is important because hydro is already saturated and wind in spite of receiving a huge public push is not likely to go much further along. Additionally, hydro and wind depend on terrain and such, so they're not universally applicable solutions. The second fact is important because the 3 autonomous communities with significant industry, Cataluña, Basque country and Madrid, have less than 10% renewable production, and that's counting the huge input of already saturated hydro in Cataluña, otherwise we'd be speaking of less than 5%. Waste treatment and disposal is dealt with by a public entity which is funded through a 1% tax on all revenue from nuclear power. This may not be optimal, but at least it should go some ways to indicate a direction in which it's possible to decouple that problem from profit maximising agents, which I agree presents dangers. Speaking more widely, to the whole EU: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_energy_in_the_European_Union On the energy mix section we can see that fossil fuels at the EU level have a huge pressence, and that renewables are far lower than in, say, Spain. This makes it even less feasible to substitute fossil fuel use for renewables, plus phase out nuclear power. It's just not possible. On the Europeans' opinion on nuclear power section we can see what I've often been saying on this topic, that anti-nuclear advocacy is objectively pro-coal. I think an ellucidation on why coal power is bad is not required in this forum. 20% of Europeans favour nuclear power, compared to coal 26%, oil 27%, gas 42%. Since the renewable energy preferences are irrelevant, given they're entirely infeasible due to high difusion and insufficient power to form baseload, advocacy against nuclear power is objective pro-fossil fuel use, which leads us to serious problems WRT CO2. On this light, I do think certain actions would be desireable by the left, at least in my local context (Spain and widely EU): * Advocate nuclear power, or at the very least be quiet about it. * Clarify the reality: renewables will not suffice. Not for anything like the present energy demands, which will only increase if living standards are to rise in developing countries. * Insist on the problems of climate change, and the undesireability of fossil fuel energy production. If those 3 action items worked out, at least I would shut up about nuclear power for the foreseeable future. --David. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
