The Price Of Non-Nuclear Energy: 3,000 Lives Per Day
03/22/11 07:29
Never before have the costs of energy been so starkly illustrated in the period of a few months. The Deepwater Horizon gulf oil spill disaster, The Middle East riots to overturn petrodictators fueled by billions of dollars of oil payments, Massey Energy’s coal mining disaster and now Fukushima.
As in the past, many wrongly now want nuclear power, which supplies 20% of US electricity, unplugged. To be sure, some nuclear plants, such as those fueled by plutonium, are past their lifespans, or in dangerous places like earthquake faults should be closed, but eliminating nuclear is a mistake.
About the same number of people die every day from conventional energy than have died from nuclear power in its 60 year history according to the World Health Organization. About 3,000 people per day die by producing and burning conventional fuels. Conveniently for the oil & coal industry, most die silently one by one from cancer or other diseases from vehicle and (chiefly coal) powerplant emissions of lead, mercury, NOx, sulfur and other nasties. About 10 people per day die in coal mining accidents. Tens of thousands more are imprisoned, abused or die at the hands of petrodictators such as Qaddafi, Amedinajhad or the Saudi princes. 1,000,000 deaths per year. Over 30 million deaths since Three Mile Island. Read More...
As in the past, many wrongly now want nuclear power, which supplies 20% of US electricity, unplugged. To be sure, some nuclear plants, such as those fueled by plutonium, are past their lifespans, or in dangerous places like earthquake faults should be closed, but eliminating nuclear is a mistake.
About the same number of people die every day from conventional energy than have died from nuclear power in its 60 year history according to the World Health Organization. About 3,000 people per day die by producing and burning conventional fuels. Conveniently for the oil & coal industry, most die silently one by one from cancer or other diseases from vehicle and (chiefly coal) powerplant emissions of lead, mercury, NOx, sulfur and other nasties. About 10 people per day die in coal mining accidents. Tens of thousands more are imprisoned, abused or die at the hands of petrodictators such as Qaddafi, Amedinajhad or the Saudi princes. 1,000,000 deaths per year. Over 30 million deaths since Three Mile Island. Read More...
Comments
They Didn't Have The Green Thing Back Then...
03/19/11 09:54
Thanks to my good friend Cliff Chen for this delightfully humorous piece of wisdom. Cliff is a senior officer in our military. Efficiency and conservation are not just abstract notions on the front line far from supply lines: getting every drop from fuel & food is a matter of life & death. No wonder our military is a leader in LED lighting, passive heating & cooling & solar energy.
...In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn’t have the green thing back her day... Read More...
...In the line at the store, the cashier told the older woman that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologized to her and explained, “We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”
That’s right, they didn’t have the green thing in her day. Back then, they returned their milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But they didn’t have the green thing back her day... Read More...
Windows R.I.P. Or Can It Rise Again To Save Microsoft & The World?
01/06/11 16:40
Microsoft Windows is becoming an increasingly irrelevant anachronism as people move their work and activities to web-based applications such as MS-Exchange/Outlook vs. gmail (200M users), MS-Office vs. Google Apps (used by over 3M businesses), MS-Sharepoint vs. Dropbox, Facebook, LinkedIn, Basecamp, and, and... Can Microsoft prevent this seemingly unavoidable doom?Read More...
Mr. Obama: It's Time To Secure The Internet
01/16/10 11:35
THIS IS YOUR BANK THIS IS YOUR BANK ON THE INTERNET
I’m deviating from my usual topic of energy because it’s time to fix the internet. (No, I am not kidding.) It’s about ensuring that you can read this blog, get cash from an ATM, make a phone call, ensure your electric power stays on, railroads run and your supermarket has food on its shelves.
What do all these vital services depend upon to operate? Twenty year old insecure internet standards.
Fixing China's Flawed New Mileage Standard
05/30/09 08:50
The New York Times reported that China laudably plans to increase its average automobile gas mileage by 18% - up to 42 mpg by 2015. This is great news - but without some (simple) fixes, the standard is likely to be ineffective and impractical to enforce. Here’s why.Read More...