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[Phys-l] SOLAR , NUCLEAR ENERGY etc.



The problem of energy and the environment are among the most serious
problems we face. There is a direct correlation between per capita energy
consumption and the general standard of living. However, these same studies show
no significant gain in the general standard of living above a certain per
capita energy consumption. This means that strategies of energy conservation
need not effect our standard of living.

The single gravest problem we face is climate change. There is no
reasonable doubt that Human activities such as deforestation and pumping billions
of years of sequested carbon into the atmosphere over a hundred years or so
is causing potentially catastrophic climate change. Balanced against this
we have our dependence on high energy use to maintain our standard of living.


This crisis will require us to get serious about transforming our energy
technologies and implementing serious energy conservation measures or we are
headed for a global disaster, the likes of which we have never seen before
in our short time on this planet. I am not at all optimistic that our
world dominated by global capital has the capacity to even begin to make the
needed changes.

One promising new source of relatively benign energy is solar. However, the
utilization of this energy sources at any where near the scale we need to
maintain our standard of living will require many new technological
advances. Efficient energy conversion, transmission and storage are all challenges
that are required to utilize solar energy on the scale needed. There is
also some limited potential in wind and geothermal.


Nevertheless, given the consequences of both climate change and the effect
of a world with low per capita energy consumption, we can't afford to take
the nuclear option off the table in my opinion. Currently the most
destructive method of producing electrical energy is coal. And practically speaking
our supply of coal is infinite because the environment will be made
uninhabitable by the use of coal for humans long before we can exhaust our coal
reserves. And clearly coal is the path of least resistance and highest
profit in the short run as our lower carbon based petroleum sources reach
production peaks.


The other elephant in the room is over population. We are way past the
carrying capacity of this planet and there is no energy technology that can
help us here.

Bob Zannelli




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