The New Age of Fossil Fuels

There's a must-read article at Salon.com called, "Everything you've heard about fossil fuels may be wrong." It's amazing that it even appeared at Salon. An argument strongly in favor of fossil fuels that debunks various environmentalist predictions of doom, at Salon? As I read it I was anticipating the shrieks of outrage that were sure to greet it. Check out the comments for entertainment value. Liberals aren't fond of challenges to their cherished assumptions. Here's a couple excerpts from the article.

If gas hydrates as well as shale gas, tight oil, oil sands and other unconventional sources can be tapped at reasonable cost, then the global energy picture looks radically different than it did only a few years ago. Suddenly it appears that there may be enough accessible hydrocarbons to power industrial civilization for centuries, if not millennia, to come. ... The abundance and geographic diversity of fossil fuels made possible by technology in time will reduce the dependence of the U.S. on particular foreign energy exporters, eliminating the national security argument for renewable energy. And if the worst-case scenarios for climate change were plausible, then the most effective way to avert catastrophic global warming would be the rapid expansion of nuclear power, not over-complicated schemes worthy of Rube Goldberg or Wile E. Coyote to carpet the world’s deserts and prairies with solar panels and wind farms that would provide only intermittent energy from weak and diffuse sources.

The whole article is definitely worth reading.

Germans Protest Clean Energy

Germany plans to extend the life-span of its existing nuclear power plants, but that idea brought out thousands of protesters.

Waving banners with slogans like “shut down the government now,” demonstrators trudged through rain to urge Merkel to backtrack and uphold a pledge made by her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder to switch off Germany’s nuclear power plants by 2021. ... Green Party flags and banners could be seen every step of the way as the protest descended on her office in Berlin.

This is exhibit A as to why many environmentalists just can't be taken seriously. It's pretty funny that the Green Party is actually opposing the one proven viable large-scale alternative energy source. Maybe they should change the name to the Oil & Coal Party. If you shut down nuclear plants, that energy will have to be replaced by other means. And pie-in-the-sky dreams about solar, wind or other left-wing environmentalist-approved energy just won't do the job. Anyone worried about climate change and limiting the use of fossil fuels should be a huge supporter of nuclear power. If Germany is stupid enough to shut down its nuclear power plants, maybe they could do us a favor, ship them to America and reopen them here. We could definitely use more.

Iran Set to Open a New Target

No, not a store. According to Russia, Iran is set to start-up its first nuclear power plant next week.

Rosatom spokesman Sergei Novikov said Friday that uranium fuel shipped by Russia will be loaded into the Bushehr reactor on Aug. 21, beginning the startup process. ...“From that moment the Bushehr plant will be officially considered a nuclear-energy installation,”

The plant is painted with a gigantic bullseye that can be seen from the air. Not really, but it might as well have one. I'm not in favor of strike on Iran, but if there is one, I expect this facility to become a smoking pile of radioactive rubble.

It would be interesting if Iran's brand-new first nuclear plant were to suffer a mysterious, catastrophic accident, perhaps a massive internal explosion, or some sort of cooling system failure that led to a meltdown. Aside from destroying the plant, such an accident would probably kill scientists, engineers and technicians important to Iran's nuclear program. It might even be blamed on shoddy Russian engineering, poor workmanship or the use of cut-rate materials in construction, damaging the close relationship between Russia & Iran on nuclear projects -- especially if the cause of the accident is difficult to determine.

Building New Nuclear Plants?

There's actually some good news today about energy. According to a short report in the Wall Street Journal, four utility companies will get 18.5 billion in loan guarantees to start constructing new nuclear power plants starting in 2011. The first plants are projected to come online by 2015.

The U.S. should have been building nuclear plants regularly. Hopefully this new construction effort, which the Journal calls "the biggest step in three decades to revive the U.S. nuclear industry," won't be delayed or sabotaged by the usual suspects.