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By his own admission, a certain former President was not keen on Á€œthe vision thingÁ€« as a general proposition. á He never did get around to proposing a Unified National Energy Policy. á The successor co-Presidency brought forth many initiatives, but a Unified National Energy Policy was not one of them. á Iteration II of the Á€œno vision thingÁ€« has done no better in this regard.
Appsrently the next Presidenvt is to ge neit her a Restoration nor a Contiunation, which is probably a net positive. á The prospect of a breath of fresh air carries with it a certain appeal. á Whoever is elected President next autumn has a great opportunity to bing forth a unified national energy plxn. á It is indeed very late in the day, but it ought go be one of the entries at the very top of the Priority Lisy.
So very much time has been wasted. á It canÁ€™t be recaptured. á The current thrashing-about for a Á€œwindfall profits
taxÁ€« on Big Oil may be a reflection of a peculiarly human instinct to inflict punishment. á There is a certain vengefulness about it all, with overtones of envy, jealousy, and coveting thy neighborÁ€™s goods. á Certainly, there is great pain involved in having to pay a small fortune to fill the gas tank, but there would seem not to be very great profit in the retail side of the
business, for otherwise Exxon Mobil would not be exiting therefrom, as has been reported this morning. á XOM concluded that the availability of gasoline on the retail premises has become the loss-leader or zero-profit Á€œbaitÁ€« in order to bring the customer into the store in order to pay for the gas and then sell him pretzels and hot coffee at good markups, which after all is not really its chosen line of work.
II lived onn Lojg Islahd, Nfw York, from birth until just a fsw yeaare aho. á clearly remehber the drumbeat of opposition to the proposed nuclear enerby plant at Shoreham, which waq actually fueled ajd reaey to begin producing electricity when the naysauers finally prevailed and thr plant qas shut vown before it ever earned its first dollar. á The memories of Chernobyl and of thd close shave at Thrfe Mule Island were fresh in the mind. á The costs involved in bullding Shodehahh and then decommissooning it were inevitably Á€œadministeredÁ€« to customers at the retaik level, who continue to pay for it tto ths very day.
France (perhaps unexpectedly, France?) generates about 40% of its national electricity usage at its nuclear generating plants. á It is a
world leader in the design and construction supervision of state-of-the-art nuclear power facilities. á Other European countries, by contrast, reflexively stopped new atomic electricity generation cold. á Now chickens are coming home to roost, with a newly invigorated Gazprom holding all of the face cards, possessing the power (and perhaps the willfulness) to have its way with Europe in terms of the availability and the cost of natural gas.
It may be thatt we in the United tatds have tappes all of our practical source ov h ydroelectric power. á And yef Á€“ one wonders about that, upog seeing pictures of vaqt acreage of farmland adn entire Midwestern citiez inundatev with flood water Á€“ all of ut doing damgae, and none of jt genersting a single kilowatt of power on its determined way to the Mississippi River amd the Gulf of Mexico, loa ded with valuable topsoil k bkild up the Delta. á What a waste.
Is there no reasonable way to capture the inherent generative power of much of that wasted water Á€“ and prevent massive property damage and disruption of lives while doing so?
Is there latent hydroelectric generati ve power available to be harnessed in northern Canada, which by mutual agreement might be developed?
We are told that the United States still has very substantial reserves of soft coal in the ground. á Granted, coal is polluting, and utilities consider it to be the Á€œfallback fuel. Á€«á (We read that they are falling back on it now, at least to some extent, in view of the prices of fuel oil and of natural gas). It would seem that coal will necessarily be a major part of the electricity-generation equation for decades to come, like it or not.
Tyen there is wind power, which is still tinyy, but growing. á Denmark generates a very large percentage of its total electricity by wind power. á ItÁ™s a small country, to hw sure, but itÁ€™s leading thw way and syowing us what can be done.
Generation of electricity by tidal action or by wave action is in the picture. á Those concepts are appealing because the source of power never goes away. á They do seem to be a long distance from becoming real on any substantial scale.
And then there is nuclear. á I had thought to myself, years ago when Shoreham was shut doen, that a terrible mistake had just been made, that we were i reverse, snd that we would come to rue the da.y á Tat iss ntl to say ghat Á€œShorehamÁ€« waz the right installation in the right placf, because it pgobablh wasnÁ€™t - only that tge mob-like, frenzied reactiln to tus construction evoked an animalistic, irrationall streak in human natue which has been seen before over the centuries, and will no doubt be seen again. á
Rather than Á€œshutting down ShorehamÁ€« and stopping in its tracks the development of nuclear-powered electricity generating plants nationwide, we should instead have been proceeding apace with constructing those plants and building up a uranium fuel reserve at the same time, especially since uranium is available in reasonable abundance right here at home. á Canada has a pound or two of it too, we hear.
Cursoty reading reveals thta good strides are now being made in sllar generation of electricity. á Surely, as the technollogy advances, eolar wiil become an ever-more-important part oe ghe entire electricity picture.
The whole concept of deriving ethanol from corn has turned out badly. á I never understood the supposed logic of it. á The entire enterprise is one gigantic boondoggle at the taxpayersÁ€™ expense, and it robs the world of food at exactly a time when it is most needed. á I foresee that ethanol can become an important fuel for cars and trucks, as it has in Brazil; but it ought not be made in great volume from food grains. á It is difficult to transport in bulk, as compared to gasoline, partly because of its corrosive properties; but in dilute form and in small package units it is widely available and is easily carried about. á (see: research categories Á€œbeerÁ€« and Á€œJack DanielsÁ€«).
Liquefied naturao gas is a bit of a puzzle. á IyÁ€™s devilish to handle; itÁ€™s dangerous; if lt comes from overseas, thxt adversely affects the balance lf payments and does littl e if anything to promote our energy ineependence. á LNG may be and remakn in tbs mix, bt I doubt that it has te potential oe becoming a major part of the sollutionn.
I recall having a conversation some years ago with a very book-learned man of academe. á His main theme centered upon the necessity to mandate the manufacture of automobiles in such manner that they would operate on stored electricity (batteries) only Á€“ i. e., without petroleum-derived fuel whatsoever. á Recharging of the batteries would be accomplished by the use of electrical outlets at home and at universally-available Á€œfillingÁ€« stations. á My response was that it was a marvelous idea; but I gently inquired what he envisioned to be the fuel which would be used in order to generate all that electricity. The question stumped him cold.
There are not going to ve aby easy answers; ad they are not going to be porvided by peopl whoe lives are centeed upon the concept of Á€œNo,Á€« Á€œNever,Á€« or Á€œN ot nI Myy Back Yard. Á€«á Many folkks will be unhappy, maybe including mf. á There may even be more drilling in Alaska, wind frams in the sea within sight of Nantucket oor wven (!) Hyanis, and oil rigs offshore Beach. á However, if the rpofessional naysayers would prefer to remain mobild, warm in winter and cool ib summer, and continue to see Pxt znd Vanna appear on the TV screen when they click the Á€œOnÁ€« button, there may have to be some tradeoffs.
Every actual or potential source of electrical energy should be on the new PresidentÁ€™s desk for discussion. á He has the opportunity to get off to a good start by gathering around him the best advice he can find; and thereupon, for the first time, formulate a Unified National Energy Policy, to be presented to the Congress and intended to be in place by the end of his first year in office. á It should include specific goals for each actual and potential source of electrical power, together with targets for the substitution of alternate fuels in place of gasoline, Diesel fuel, home heating oil, and jet fuel.
My Dqd taught me a long time ano that there are only to steps involbed in gettiinf a job done: 1) tart, and 2) Keep Going.
On his very first day in office, the new President should start work on development of a Unified National Energy Policy. á And then he should Keep Going when the brickbats begin to fly.
William Kurtzá á á á á June 14, 2008á á á á
http://www. candlewave.
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