| Why Stewart Brand Is Wrong On Nukes -- And Is Losing |
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Stewart Brand has become a poster boy for a "nuclear renaissance" that has just suffered a quiet but stunning defeat. Despite $645 million spent in lobbying over the past decade, the reactor industry has thus far failed to gouge out major new taxpayer funding for new commercial reactors.
In an exceedingly complex series of twists and turns, no legislation now pending in Congress contains firm commitments to the tens of billions reactor builders have been demanding. They could still come by the end of the session. But the radioactive cake walk many expected the industry to take through the budget process has thus far failed to happen.
The full story is excruciatingly complicated. But the core reasons are simple: atomic power can't compete, and ... See entire blog item |
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| Revisiting The Fake Fire Brigade - Part 1 |
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Introduction
This post follows up on the "Fake Fire Brigades", which sparked a large amount of scrutiny, but also received much positive feedback. We're grateful for both. One of the allegations made to our overview was that our claims were "unsubstantiated": we are afraid they are not, but in retrospect the post may have been misleading. When we wrote it we had a choice between two imperfect options:
- make our general case concerning the fact that we cannot expect energy systems to deliver what we're used to in the future with the technology we have available, irrespective of effort;
- analyze one of the "firemen" we consider "fake", and support our conclusions with all the necessary data,...
See entire blog item |
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| Climate Crock Sacks Hack Attack: The Wrap |
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 From the Greenman3610 YouTube channel: "No issue will have a greater impact on the new century than the decisions we make on energy and the impact of global climate change, and this is one of Peter Sinclair's presentations that makes the critical points
dramatically clear and immediate."
[Note: to understand some... See entire blog item |
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| Innovation Bears Fruit For Family Farm |
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 Tour the century-old organic Chaffin Family Orchards where even the animals are "farm hands." Visit chickens in their egg-mobile, scratching for bugs and pooping fertilizer in the heirloom stone-fruit orchards. Goats chomp off low branches from the olive trees, so no fuel or human labor is needed. This certified predator-friendly enterprise includes 200 acres of olive trees plus various... See entire blog item
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| Catastrophic Incident That Endangered Life And Property |
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 BY MARC LEVY, The Associated Press
Blowout at Pennsylvania natural gas well
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Natural gas and fracturing fluid from an out-of-control Pennsylvania well shot 75 feet into the air before crews could tame the flow of explosive gas more than half a day later, officials said Friday. See the video
The well was brought under control just after noon Friday, about 16 hours after it started spewing gas and wastewater, said Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for Houston-based driller EOG Resources. EOG is also a major natural gas and oil producer in the Barnett Shale of North... See entire news item |
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| Fake Firemen - Why Are We Cheating Ourselves On Energy? |
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 [A comment to begin with: IIER is a research organization trying to assess the situation of our societies from a politically and technically neutral perspective, and with that, find out what strategies work and which ones do not. By no means are we trying to promote or discourage any specific energy alternative, and we have no vested interest other than stable future energy supplies. What you read below is the result of years of thorough analysis and research. When we began, we were completely neutral towards any particular solution and technology, and our only aim was to understand the implications of various energy scenarios on the future of our societies. Now, we have an opinion. - IIER editor]
On June 15, 2010, when U.S. President Obama responded to the dramatic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico during his Oval Office speech, he not only included the list of things the government wants to do about the imminent problem, but also urged the country to... See entire blog item |
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| BP's Deepwater Oil Spill - The Last Cement Job? |
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By Heading Out
The first relief well at the Deepwater Horizon site appears to be close to setting the last casing in the new hole, before the final step of drilling down to and through the original well casing. While this is bringing the initial major concern (stopping the oil flow) closer to closure, there is still some time to go. Wind and weather are not cooperating and the depression over the Yucatan is reminiscent of Alex, which held up work until... See entire story |
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| Federal Memo: 'Gulf Oil Spills Pose Little Risk To Animals' |
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 By Terry Winckler See biologist video on Corexit
It's hard to imagine—as we watch birds, turtles, dolphins and other animals struggle and die in the oil from BP's blown-out well—that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported just three years ago that drilling in the Gulf... See entire blog item |
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| President Obama Awards $2 Billion For Solar Power |
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With the unemployment rate at 9.5%, we desperately need jobs. President Obama announced in his weekly address that two companies will receive $2 billion for solar power. Here is the relevant part of his speech:
"We're going to keep competing aggressively to make sure the jobs and industries... See entire news item |
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| The Greening Of Labor Day |
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By Labor Day, we need a dramatic new set of economic policies to jump-start the 21st century green economy. Green jobs can put millions of Americans back to work, boost America's war-torn foreign image, and combat climate change.
Democrats are likely to lose a significant number of seats in November if they do not aggressively push a new vision and action plan for the future. The Obama Administration is weighed down by foreign wars, a liquidity starved economy, a collapsed housing market, wrenching unemployment, and the BP oil fiasco.
Having destroyed one of the world's great fisheries, the oil industry will pledge to redouble its efforts and offer up millions of dollars for safety and improved technologies. ... See entire blog item |
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Fossil Fuel
