Spring has sprung, and we’re
feeling a bit of the changed climate here in normally wet Humboldt County. We’re are about 64% of normal, after going
through a rather dry but consistently cold winter.
On the energy front. I’ve
been busy updating my presentation to the College of the Redwood environmental
ethics class in a few weeks. Again, my
concern and work has focused on the relentless push for money and standing by
the nuclear industry, by continuing the misinformation and hoax that nuclear
power is cheap, safe, clean, and necessary.
Their new hope is for the construction and hopefully satisfactory
operation of an untested prototype 80MW reactor up north in the state of
Washington. It’s supposed to take 8
years to build, and the industry is mum on what the construction price tag is
(rumor has it at $250m); but whatever it is, 8 years from now renewables will
have added some 20,000, 30,000, +++??MW to the electric grid at 1/10th
the price. The growth of solar and wind had been remarkably strong through the
Trump years; but now once the new administration gets the right bills through
congress, renewables will take off exponentially, not only here, but in the
rest of the world. It is really
difficult for me to try and keep up with and document the enormous changes that
are occurring technologically and economically (DOE is looking at a 60%
reduction in the cost of solar within 10 years…that’s not just the cost of
panels, but the entire infrastructure) and cheaper deployment of wind and a
whole range of new technologies ranging from our oceans, geologic heat sources,
and more. Couple this with energy
efficiency (look what LEDs have done to lighting,) technological improvements,
and the implementation of batteries and HYDROGEN for storage, and our future
will be very different from what it is today.
What is coming out of new
small tech companies, as well as what the established tech giants like GE are
starting to do, indicates the huge potential for cleaner, safe, and cheaper
energy, as well as a whole new array of jobs.
Businesses of all sizes, as well as commercial and municipality entities,
are moving in the direction of small microgrids because it is cheaper and more
efficient. We can look back at the
dramatic changes that computers, cell phones, and robotics have had over the years;
and the changes coming will be even more dramatic and rapid.
The nuclear industry
continues to sidestep any sane and logical discussion of the storage of nuclear
wastes, and what that is costing us now, and will in the future. The reason is that and nobody knows. Yet they trudge down the glorious path of
greed and ignorance, telling us unlimited energy is there in the future. Actually, fusion, from its source in the sun
will give us all the energy we can ever demand. Meanwhile, Fukushima is about to release
hundreds of millions of gallons of radioactive water, because they are running
out of room to store it, and they really don’t know what to do with it.
I am the most optimistic
about our future than I have been in my entire academic life. I will continue to fight against nuclear power
because it is not cheap, safe, clean, and necessary for the future.
The presentation for my class
is available for viewing at:
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AueW7Kaqwy6zguAM-r5-dycMd70QKw?e=SFocqS
Let the sun shine and the
wind blow, all over the earth!
