Wednesday, June 27, 2007

World cannot afford nuclear climate solution-report

27 Jun 2007 15:58:51 GMT

Source: Reuters
By Jeremy Lovell LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - The world must start building nuclear power plants at the unprecedented rate of four a month from now on if nuclear energy is to play a serious part in fighting global warming, a leading think-tank said on Wednesday. Not only is this impossible for logistical reasons, but it has major implications for world security because of nuclear weapons proliferation, the Oxford Research Group said in its report "Too Hot To Handle - The future of civil nuclear power". The report fired a series of broadsides against the growing momentum for more nuclear-generated electricity to help cut climate-warming carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. Read More

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Bush: 'Nuclear a key to economic vitality'
22 June 2007

US President George Bush paid a visit to the recently restarted Browns Ferry 1 nuclear power unit on 21 June, making forthright statements on the benefits of nuclear power.

GB_20070621-12_p062107cg-0080-515h_small.jpg
US President George Bush in the Browns Ferry 1 control room. (Image: White House, Chris Greenberg)
Bush visited the machine shop and control room of the 1155 MWe boiling water reactor unit before addressing about 230 workers and local officials.

In a wide-ranging speech on energy, Bush hailed nuclear as a safe, clean, affordable and reliable power source, which "is a key component of economic vitality, because it provides 20% of electricity."

On environmental issues, he said that "if you are interested in cleaning up the air, then you ought to be an advocate for nuclear power... There is no single solution to climate change, but there can be no solution without nuclear power."
Read More

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

San Francisco To Explore Tidal Power Options In Bay



just whack on a couple of sluice gates and catch the running tide...
by Staff Writers
San Francisco CA (SPX) Jun 20, 2007
In support of ongoing efforts to increase California's renewable power supplies and address climate change, Pacific Gas and Electric Company today signed an agreement with the City and County of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Energy Company to conduct the most comprehensive study yet undertaken to assess the possibilities for harnessing the tides in San Francisco Bay to create a new source of zero- emissions, renewable electric power for California energy customers.
Read More

Sunday, June 17, 2007

The Pentagon v. peak oil

Published on 14 Jun 2007 by Tomdispatch.com.

by Michael T. Klare


Sixteen gallons of oil. That's how much the average American soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan consumes on a daily basis -- either directly, through the use of Humvees, tanks, trucks, and helicopters, or indirectly, by calling in air strikes. Multiply this figure by 162,000 soldiers in Iraq, 24,000 in Afghanistan, and 30,000 in the surrounding region (including sailors aboard U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf) and you arrive at approximately 3.5 million gallons of oil: the daily petroleum tab for U.S. combat operations in the Middle East war zone.

Multiply that daily tab by 365 and you get 1.3 billion gallons: the estimated annual oil expenditure for U.S. combat operations in Southwest Asia. That's greater than the total annual oil usage of Bangladesh, population 150 million -- and yet it's a gross underestimate of the Pentagon's wartime consumption.

Such numbers cannot do full justice to the extraordinary gas-guzzling expense of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, for every soldier stationed "in theater," there are two more in transit, in training, or otherwise in line for eventual deployment to the war zone -- soldiers who also consume enormous amounts of oil, even if less than their compatriots overseas. Moreover, to sustain an "expeditionary" army located halfway around the world, the Department of Defense must move millions of tons of arms, ammunition, food, fuel, and equipment every year by plane or ship, consuming additional tanker-loads of petroleum. Add this to the tally and the Pentagon's war-related oil budget jumps appreciably, though exactly how much we have no real way of knowing. Read More