Posted on 04/08/2005 7:59:31 PM PDT by neverdem
A lot of folks would think that's a capital idea.
I haven't read the link yet.
I want to see if I can generate some interest in a PBR or MPBR with my groups.
Being the geekiest one of them all, I suppose things that get my blood pumping don't always coincide with everybody else.
(Well, as far as technology is concerned.)
It's an encouraging sign to find this OpEd in the NY Times. Maybe they are finally beginning to smell the coffee.
Bush has said surprisingly little about energy since he was re-elected. He has just kept silent while the price of gas and fuel oil goes up and up and up. I wonder what he is plotting?
What a load of rubbish.
I wish the folks that make claims like that would provide a believable source or link.
yes, I often wonder where the libs get there statistics...they very seldom mention a source.
Psssssssssst!
That's because they make them up.
Coal burning electrical generation in the US releases around 2 billion tons of CO2 per year, producing around 2 trillion kWh of electricity. A $200-per-ton tax on those emissions would be around 400 billion dollars per year, or 20 cents per kWh.
The actual production cost for coal powered electricity is around 2 cents per kWh, so this greenie weenie tax would represent a 1000% markup. Of course this would make nuclear power cheaper by comparison. Even solar power would be cheaper.
I dont know what the numbers are, but coal plants are more hazardous to people's health than nuclear and have contributed to more deaths than nuclear. The thing is with coal is that it releases a lot more radiation in the waste thorium, uranium, and potassium released. Coal actually releases more energy as waste than it produces because of the radioactivity in the waste. Its in small doses but after decades it accumulates to a level where it has a health impact.
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html
I am not sure about the numbers on how much coal kills per year. 25k seems a bit high.
Global warming fanatics may have a use.
The Upper West Side cocktail party crowd is going to go berserk, ranting and raving about how the NYT is selling out to the radical right-wing. Hold on for a second while I double over with laughter ...
There. Now as I was saying, let's see what their position is in a week or so, once they've been deluged with hysterical letters shreiking about how all our body parts will fall off from the radiation, letters from botoxed Manhattan MoveOn morons who tell their grandkids that Tom DeLay is going to convert them to Christianity if they don't behave.
Aha! Now we get to it - there's a new tax to be levied! That explains Kristof's 180.
I suppose you are referring to anthropogenic climate change due to greenhouse gases, and manmade carbon dioxide in particular. It is plausible, but not proven.
If you ever saw the change in absorbance at the wavelength at which carbon dioxide absorbs in an infrared spectrophotometer, you would agree it is plausible.
My own inclination is that for whatever reason the sun has increased its output of radiant energy, and that's why it's getting warmer.
No! No! No! You don't understand! We have to reduce the Earth's population from 6.5 billion to 13 million. The remaining population will be able to sustain themselves with solar energy alone. We should get together the top minds in biology, political science, psychology, and the arts, from University of California at Berkeley, University of Michigan, Harvard, Brown, etc. These academics will put together a set of criteria for who gets to be in the 13 million. That's the ticket!
Actually, the new, modern fuel cycles essentially eliminate the nuclear wastes too. The spent fuel can be reprocessed using a variant of the PUREX process that has been around since the manhattan project to separate the actinides, uranium, and the fission products. Because the fission products don't emit alpha particles and have short half lives, they can be vitrified and buried. They have decayed and are cold after a couple of hundred years. The actinides can be reburned; indeed, they can be mixed with uranium to make more reactive fuel.
Modern reactor designs, such as the pebble bed, also are actinide burners. They have a hotter neutron spectrum and burn up the actinides. You can keep recycling this stuff forever.
bump
If they would just do away with this silly day-light-savings-time we could stop worrying about global warming.
But no; the liberals want to be tan so we have to put up with another 60 minutes of sunshine every day!
(;>)
The Green Atom!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.