|
|||||
|
US energy independence is really anchored into the transportation sector. Therefore, our huge domestically supplied electrical system can only help if that power somehow leaps into the fuel tank. Electric cars with rechargeable batteries come quickly to mind. But here is a twist:
It’s a given despite agitation for cap and trade, climate change, ad nauseam, that coal plants will be around for a fair amount of time to come as touted alternatives are merely supplemental. And the Waxman-Markey bill is only expected to help mitigate ‘warming’ by 0.05ºC, at best. Therefore, what’s left? Dare we say nuclear? There are some other ideas kicking around for alternative (true substitute) transportation fuels. But, these require thermodynamic chemistry reversals which require lots of energy. Dare we say nuclear? After removal of a cancerous kidney, a patient is informed that the required ‘dye’ needed to confirm success and whole body assessment for next level of diagnosis and treatment is unavailable. Being an experienced nuclear scientist and physical chemist, the patient easily figures out that the ‘dye’ is SPECT radioactive isotope 99mTc. Read about his frustration at Citizens for Medical Isotopes of being denied something he advocated for others at all levels of public and government opportunities. It is truly ironic that the media driven paranoia regarding things radioactive or nuclear has caused medical professionals to hide terms such as medical isotopes and nuclear magnetic resonance (non-radioactive) with soft words such as ‘dye’ and ‘MRI’ respectively. The unintended consequences are that the public is now illiterate to what many of us have been saying for years. The life supporting medical isotope supplies are fragile and are now catastrophically missing due to foreign nuclear reactor shutdowns. The US has frittered away its expertise and infrastructure to the now being learned expense of patient health and foreign supply risk. It’s here, it’s now, and there is no fast solution to rebuild what modern medicine needs. The British House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee has just completed its review of the culpabilty of University of East Anglia’s Professor Phil Jones regarding ‘hiding the decline’ emails and related correspondence.
The response is well crafted, winding around the very obvious that, yes, these principals were hiding data. One could say that they were hoarding, but the real effect for the science community was the hiding of the data from responsible review and thwarting reproducibility of results. Those results and data finally available for review, after a multi-year fight, have been found to not tell the whole story as advertised by the hoarders/hiders. With the IPCC now asking for and encouraging true critical review by additional parties, science may regain some credibility. This would not have happened without revealing the hiding and suspected intentional tossing of contrary data.
Right on to that!
The earth is warming, has been for 10,000 years, and is on that general track, including sea level rise. Nothing really new there. Our modern data sets are very recent with the advent of the space age, coincidentally with observations of periodic events such as El Ninos and solar grand maxima. The rub is that at best, there is no direct irrefutable evidence that anthropogenic CO2 is the cause. Even the hype about arctic sea ice is currently in the toilet with the expanse within the 20 year anchor (1979-2000, space age) standard deviation for this early spring period (see chart) and increasing. This is despite a generally mild north-temperate zone winter due to the current El Nino.
So, what is it? Weather or Climate Change? Maybe with some longer term solid space age data such as from the new Japanese IBUKI GOSAT CO2 and decent modeling, we may become to realize that mother nature is the real cause, not us.
A logical evolution as an industry ‘matures’. The Wyoming legislature has just passed a $1 per Megawatt generation tax on windfarms in existence for 3 years or more. With double depreciation and federal subsidies for implementation completing, it’s logical to apply this measure as that state does on energy sources such as coal, natural gas, and oil production. Since it was proposed by the governor, it will likely be signed. The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency estimated in 2008 that wind receives $23.37 in federal subsidies per megawatt hour. So Wyoming is only asking for 4.3% of what is given to the operators by every US taxpayer. Let windpower stand on its own feet. Three local leaders (Tri-City Herald, Feb 19, 2010) are advancing concern about violation of law with regard to the present federal administration’s canceling of funding for Yucca Mountain nuclear material storage licensing. Missing from this gray cloud observation is the silver lining that the US now has an opportunity to revise all used nuclear fuel policies. The national commercial used nuclear fuel inventory can now be considered for re-cycling in order to gain a majority portion of the 95% remaining energy available. This concept was missing from the position of the leaders. Hanford has 2100 metric tons of government used fuel and several hundred tons of commercial fuel in area inventory, sufficient to continue closed cycle electrical generation for decades. But, this option requires forward thinking about our long term energy needs rather than whining about something that is not causing harm in current storage. |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2010 KANDG - All Rights Reserved  Powered by FireStats
|
|||||
Recent Comments