{"id":4668,"date":"2009-07-13T23:16:37","date_gmt":"2009-07-13T23:16:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=4668"},"modified":"2009-07-13T23:16:37","modified_gmt":"2009-07-13T23:16:37","slug":"a-nuclear-blueprint-to-cheap-clean-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/a-nuclear-blueprint-to-cheap-clean-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"A Nuclear Blueprint to Cheap, Clean Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>[social_buttons]<\/p>\n

With the historic passage of climate legislation through the House of Representatives, many concerns have trickled forth. Does the climate legislation do enough? Will it even work? Does it have the right aim? With the issuance of similar concerns have come proposed solutions and substitutions. The republicans have proposed that 100 nuclear power plants be built by 2030 in place of the proposed cap-and-trade climate bill. I’ve recently written two articles on the Republican “solution”<\/a><\/strong> to both the climate and economic crises. And today I’m writing more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) announced his own personal blueprint for the nation’s recovery. He began by re-stating the Senate Republicans’ plan that would replace the cap-and-trade legislation passed by the House, which includes\u00a0building 100 nuclear power plants within 20 years<\/a>, the encouragement of electric cars for conservation, offshore exploration for natural gas and oil and <\/span>doubling energy research and development to make renewable energy cost-competitive.<\/p>\n

While presenting the four steps to low-cost, clean energy, Alexander criticized the House of Representatives for passing the cap-and-trade legislation, calling it “a job-killing, 100 billion dollar a year national energy tax that will add a new utility bill to every American family budget.”<\/p>\n

He went on to mention that the Republican plan would not add to the federal budget because ratepayers would pay for the construction of nuclear plants, which would not place an added burden on taxpayers. Offshore exploration and drilling royalties would pay for the furthering of an electric car infrastructure. “Doubling energy research and development,” he said, “should cost about $8 billion more per year which is consistent with President Obama\u2019s budget proposals for 2009 and 2010.”<\/p>\n

He then proceeded to ask the question:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJust what is it we are trying to accomplish with this energy and climate change legislation? What kind of America should we hope to create during the next 20 years?”<\/p>\n

His own answers included wanting “to see an America running on energy that is clean, cheap, reliable and abundant;” an America that produces its own energy, leading the world in technological and scientific progress; an American that produces less carbon and maintains cleaner air; an America “in which we create hundreds of thousands of “green jobs” but not at the expense of destroying tens of millions of red, white and blue jobs;” and an America that doesn’t destroy the environment in the name of saving the environment, maintaining the beautiful landscapes that stretch from sea to shining sea.<\/p>\n

Supporting the implementation of wind and solar energy sources, he went on to say that these sources should supplement<\/em> rather than be<\/em> our source for energy. He pointed out that solar and wind farms (as we currently know them) consume vast amounts of space to produce the same amount of energy as a traditional coal plant – or even a nuclear plant, which require less space.<\/p>\n

Use alternative energy sources, yes, he said, but don’t rely on them. Rather, we as an American people should “take another long, hard look at nuclear power,<\/a>” calling it “our best source for large amounts of cheap, reliable clean energy.”<\/p>\n

“[Nuclear] provides only 20 percent of our nation’s electricity but 70 percent of our carbon-free, pollution-free electricity. It is already far and away our best defense against global warming,” he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So why not build 100 new plants by 2030?<\/a> He suggested that we follow the example of France, which receives 80 percent of its electricity from\u00a050 reactors and has among the cheapest electricity rates and the lowest carbon emissions in Europe to show for it.<\/p>\n

Nuclear, he went on to say, provides tremendous amounts of energy while making a very small environmental footprint: “A uranium<\/a> fuel pellet the size of a thimble contains the energy equivalent of 1780 pounds of coal, 149 gallons of oil, or 17,000 cubic feet of natural gas.”
\n<\/p>\n

And now the blueprint:<\/p>\n

“Nuclear power is the obvious first step to a policy of clean and low-cost energy<\/a>. One hundred new plants in 20 years would double U.S. nuclear production, making it about forty percent of all electricity production. Add 10% for sun and wind and other renewables, another 10% for hydroelectric, maybe 5% for natural gas\u2014and we begin to have a cheap as well as clean energy policy.”<\/p>\n

The second step is to transition into an electric vehicle nation, where half of the cars are electric. According to\u00a0Brookings Institution scholars, this could be done without building more power plants because of the vast amounts of energy that goes unused at nights. That power, which is already produced, would be used as vehicles charged overnight.<\/p>\n

The third step? “Explore offshore for natural gas (it\u2019s low carbon) and oil (using less, but using our own).”<\/p>\n

And finally, put more money toward research – doubling funding. We need to work to create answers to meet energy challenges, which include: improving batteries for plug-in vehicles, making solar power cost competitive with fossil fuels, making carbon capture a reality for coal-burning plants, safely recycling used nuclear fuel, making advanced biofuels (crops we don\u2019t eat) cost-competitive with gasoline, making more buildings green buildings and providing energy from fusion.<\/p>\n

Here lies his blueprint. He exposed it to proponents and opponents alike. And he closed by stating that “our policy of cheap and clean energy based upon nuclear power, electric cars, off-shore exploration and doubling energy R&D will help family budgets and create jobs. It will also prove to be the fastest way to increase American energy independence, clean the air and reduce global warming.”<\/p>\n

He welcomes comments at\u00a0www.alexander.senate.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For a full text of his speech, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: www.alexander.senate.gov<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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And today I’m writing more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,35],"tags":[1904,7343,11597,11980,25197,25213,25238,25247,25273,25814,25816,29773,29775,31280,32168,32280,32449,34408,37779,38294,38297,38341],"spectra_custom_meta":{"social_buttons":["tweetmeme, digg"],"post_thumbnail":["http:\/\/planetsave.com\/files\/2009\/07\/alexander2.jpg"],"dsq_thread_id":["145151720"],"dpsp_networks_shares":["a:4:{s:8:\"facebook\";i:0;s:11:\"google-plus\";i:0;s:9:\"pinterest\";i:0;s:8:\"linkedin\";i:0;}"],"dpsp_networks_shares_total":["0"],"dpsp_networks_shares_last_updated":["1567116074"],"penci_post_views_count":["999"],"penci_post_week_views_count":["11"],"penci_post_month_views_count":["28"],"rank_math_news_sitemap_robots":["index"],"rank_math_robots":["a:1:{i:0;s:5:\"index\";}"],"rank_math_og_content_image":["a:2:{s:5:\"check\";s:32:\"757e07dc5afca3e1e6ae516757a1a96b\";s:6:\"images\";a:0:{}}"],"_uag_page_assets":["a:9:{s:3:\"css\";s:0:\"\";s:2:\"js\";s:0:\"\";s:18:\"current_block_list\";a:4:{i:0;s:10:\"core\/image\";i:1;s:14:\"core\/paragraph\";i:2;s:12:\"core\/heading\";i:3;s:17:\"core\/latest-posts\";}s:8:\"uag_flag\";b:0;s:11:\"uag_version\";i:1714089639;s:6:\"gfonts\";a:0:{}s:10:\"gfonts_url\";s:0:\"\";s:12:\"gfonts_files\";a:0:{}s:14:\"uag_faq_layout\";b:0;}"]},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Ruedigar Matthes","author_link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/author\/ruedigar\/"},"uagb_comment_info":3,"uagb_excerpt":"With the historic passage of climate legislation through the House of Representatives, many concerns have trickled forth. Does the climate legislation do enough? Will it even work? Does it have the right aim? With the issuance of similar concerns have come proposed solutions and substitutions. The republicans have proposed that 100 nuclear power plants be…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4668"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}