On Nov 1, 2008, at 1:18 PM, Jed Rothwell wrote:
Edmund Storms <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
This is exactly what Obama has proposed to do in contrast to
McCain who
wants to drill for oil and encourage nuclear power.
Just to clarify, Obama also supports nuclear power.
The candidates are actually close together on energy policy, at least
in their speeches and web sites.
[snip]
- Jed
I think it is a no brainer that for national security purposes the US
needs at least for an intermediate term an "all of the above" energy
policy, moderated by financial and timing feasibility and a vision of
longer term goals. Increased drilling can help short term if it is
done where delivery infrastructure is close by or quick to build,
like ANWR. A lot of the offshore options are just pie in the sky
things, like ITER. They shortly may even not be economical. I also
doubt if nuclear is even feasible short term, economically or not.
The law suits will take forever. Solar, wind, and grid upgrades can
be implemented immediately without conflict with long term goals. The
main problem is energy storage and that can be ameliorated by large
quantities of battery powered vehicles taking on energy at good times
as controlled by a networked smart meter system, and other energy
storage systems now available.
The above problems are like the proverbial draining of the swamp.
The immediate problem is the imminent destruction of the industry and
the progress made to date toward renewable energy. This is more
like an alligator taking chunks out of you while you work on draining
the swamp. It has to be dealt with very quickly.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
