NEI Nuclear Notes

So far I have written two detailed posts on Amory Lovins’ and the Rocky Mountain Institute’s latest nuclear critique. My third post discusses energy efficiency and Amory Lovins’ coined term “negawatts.” There is this widely held belief that becoming more energy efficient means that we will consume less energy. At first glance, that notion seems correct but digging further, I found there’s much more to it. In the case of energy efficiency, RMI overlooks a fundamental effect of efficiency on the energy marketplace. From RMI’s condensed version : An even cheaper competitor [to new nuclear plants] is enduse efficiency (“negawatts”)—saving electricity by using it more efficiently or at smarter times. There are several misperceptions about what energy efficiency really contributes. Here’s what Robert Bryce has to say in the Energy Tribune : The final – and most important – area in which Lovins has been consistently wrong is his claim that efficiency lowers energy consumption. And when it c...

Quite a media coup today for the TVA , with an A1 above the fold story in the Chattanooga Times on the nuclear industry's impact on the local economy: Beyond the temporary plant construction jobs, Tennessee is eager to land new manufacturers to supply the nuclear industry, state Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber said. “One of the goals that the governor has established for the long-term diversification of our economy is to make the energy industry grow roots in our state and really become as important to Tennessee as our automotive industry over the next decade or two,” Mr. Kisber said. Already, Alstom Turbo Machines Group is preparing to invest $280 million to make turbines for nuclear plants in one of the old plants once owned by Combustion Engineering. Westinghouse Electric also is planning to buy and renovate an abandoned plant in the Centre South Riverport and add 50 more employees over the next year to expand its nuclear services business. Als...

Bet that got your attention. We noted a few months ago that global warming denial has been doing a fade from the media, with only some Fox News personalities holding down the fort on a regular basis. Now, we're not neutral on this subject ourselves and think the issue's extension in the world of punditry has proven to be an extension of other arguments not really related to climate change per se - the know-nothing assault on science, a feint to industries that are rapidly finding their own ways forward, perhaps a way to keep an ideological wedge issue alive for political advantage - but whatever it may be or may have been, the embers of argument seem to be flickering out one at a time. How else to explain Fox's Shepherd Smith, in recounting the tale of a man who fell down the hole of a port-a-potty, saying - well, see for yourself.

Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) let fly an op-ed in the Wall Street journal today entitled “Why Is Bush Helping Saudi Arabia Build Nukes?” that glides around some very odd desert lands. First, he dings President Bush for going nuclear instead of solar, noticing that the kingdom has lots of sunshine: Have Ms. Rice, Mr. Bush or Saudi leaders looked skyward? The Saudi desert is under almost constant sunshine. If Mr. Bush wanted to help his friends in Riyadh diversify their energy portfolio, he should have offered solar panels, not nuclear plants. Second, he doubts that Saudi Arabia has good intentions, especially with Iran nearby: An Iranian nuclear weapon would radically alter the region's balance of power, and could prove to be the match that lights the tinderbox. By signing this agreement with the U.S., Saudi Arabia is warning Iran that two can play the nuclear game. And third, those ingrate Saudis are taking advantage of us while they have us over an <ahem> ba...

From Deutsche Welle , more on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's call to restore Germany's nuclear energy program: Although Merkel has long championed a three-way mix in electrical power generation—fossil, renewables and nuclear—she has in the past been cautious in openly advocating a reverse in official government policy to phase out nuclear power by 2021. That all changed at a top-level weekend meeting of her Christian Democrats (CDU) and its Bavarian sister-party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), in the Bavarian town of Erding. The anti-nuclear decision, passed into law by the government of her Social Democrat predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, was "absolutely wrong," Merkel said as the meeting ended Monday. At a joint press conference, French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his country's interest in partnering with Germany: "The desire of the French is to work with our German friends to produce nuclear energy". President Bush begins his final, ei...

The old folks who power jog around the mall before it opens are a pretty focused bunch and probably wouldn’t even notice if Charlton Heston charged through to inform them that they, they are being used as an energy source. But some clever British engineers have found a way to convert walking into at least enough energy to keep the lights going. Underfloor generators, powered by “heel strike” and designed by British engineers, may soon be installed in supermarkets and railway stations. The technology could use the footsteps of pedestrians to power thousands of lightbulbs at shopping centres. It works by using the pressure of feet on the floor to compress pads underneath, driving fluid through mini-turbines that then generate electricity, which is stored in a battery. Although the technology is all in place, you knew there had to be a catch: The underfloor generators could in theory be used in any place where there are large numbers of pedestrians, although th...

To put it mildly, they differ - in some ways reflecting the general approach of their parties. First, McCain : Sen. McCain argues that many of the steps are little more than subsidies that enrich special interests. He has long called for scrapping the federal ethanol tax credit, saying America's corn-ethanol industry can and should stand on its own. He has also voted against requiring electric utilities to boost their use of renewable energy sources, preferring to let cities and states set their own targets for renewable energy. And Obama: [Obama]'s promising to invest $150 billion over the next decade in alternative fuels such as cellulosic ethanol that can be made from materials such as switchgrass and wood chips. He'd push a requirement that the U.S. by 2025 get at least 25% of its electricity from renewable sources like the wind, the sun and geothermal energy (which together currently account for less than 1% of U.S. electricity supply). Letting the mark...