As far as nuclear energy is concerned, the US Navy has used it in submarines since the fifties. There hasn't been even a nose bleed due to nuclear reactors. The first city to be powered by nuclear power is a little town north of Dayton, Ohio, named Piqua. If you travel that area on highway 75 you go right by that town. It is still there and the residents do not glow at night. The trees are green and life goes on as normal. I also frequented the site where the first atom was split, right outside of Chicago. Deer were running. trees were growing and all that you could tell that this was where it happened was an little plaque overgrown with weeds around it. This was back in the sixties. I have heard that they have since cleaned it up. But there was no damage. Go to California and around Stanford there is a linear accelerator that goes right under the highway.
More people have died from steam locomotives than from nuclear power. Think about it.
However the cleanest and cheapest power is hydroelectric. The greenies are trying to shut those down. I am very familiar with Gavins Point Dam outside of Yankton, SD. However, I never got a true number on the cost of electricity coming from that plant as they were apparently in some sort of secret mode. However, one official did say it was unbelievably cheap. Plus you have the benefits of recreation, fishing, flood control and soil conservation. After they built the dam they found kinds of fish that they never knew existed. The only negative is that several historic landmarks of Lewis and Clark's journey are now under water.
THis goes back to what I have said. There is a free market solution. The warmers could simply continue to demand clean energy from the power companies and decide to buy from the power companies that have the cleanest energy profile. If all of the people who CLAIM to be concerned were to actually have done this, then we would ahve already reduced our CO2 enmssions drastically.
They don't do this, because they don't care enough. But they care enough to tax us??? What sense does that make?
kouji,
Not only does nuclear power NOOT create CO2, smog or anything else that is bad, the radiactive material from nuclear power is no worse for you than the uranium that was pulled out of the ground in the first place.
Further, if you want to talk about death by sources of power, look up coal mines accidents. There have been 0, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, THE BIG GOOSE EGG deaths in the US caused by nuclear power. The same cannot even be said for wind power, and wind power is pretty safe.
Um, no. I would put a few token solar panels on the roof and criss-cross the country pontificating on the evils of coal fired power plants. As I got more influential and famous, my speaking fee would naturally go up. I would make increasingly outrageous statement like the sea level will rise by six feet by the end of the century.
As I became more successful at spreading the word, I would buy a Prius to add to my collection of cars, also a beach house someplace expensive. I might even invest in a zinc mine. I would do everything I could to shut down the coal fired power plant, but as long as it provided cheap electricity, I would certainly be a customer. That's just good business.
"isn't the only responsible thing to do is to disconnect the power from your home? "
Nope. You can go to your local power company's public hearings and work to change their policies and practices.
That's more responsible.
Nope. Nobody would care. I'd just be left in a house with no electricity.
PS Nuclear Power is great until a tsunami comes and makes a hole in the reactor... then it's not very green is it?
Electricity from coal fired power plants is GREAT! All the plant-life around the globe thanks me every time I turn on another light bulb. CO2 is very good for the planet, it makes the plants grow faster and that means more food for a hungry world.
So go ahead and take your SUV for a totally unnecessary spin, it's OK, you paid for the gas and the planet loves the CO2 you are producing. It's a win - win situation.
-----------------------
there's no such thing as clean energy. wind and solar are dirty as well. the land they cover is so much larger than coal plants or nuclear plants. solar panels and wind turbines are built using loads of coal fired energy.
I just checked the power coming to my house at our transformer on the pole at the road. I climbed up and took the cover off it and it looked nice and clean inside to me so I'm good to go.
Why not just call up one of the outfits that lease solar power? You'd pollute less by using less of the dirty power, and save money.
For myself - I'm off-grid anyway - and have more reliable power than neighbors who have grid serivce.
Of course no. One home makes little difference. Supporting science and change does
Yahoo needs to do what Google now does:
Google will stop supporting climate change science deniers, calls them liars
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/...
If you though so-called "global warming" was killing the planet, and you found out that you are part of the problem when you use electric power in your home, isn't the only responsible thing to do is to disconnect the power from your home? I use nuclear power, so I am green. Are you?
No, but I do expect that power to be replaced by a clean source. And there is zero evidence that anyone died of radiation because of Fukushima.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...
Since when was nuclear power green? Toxic waste byproduct that harms our environment, and let's not forget the Japan crisis.
No, but I would wash the wires very, very well.
