[beef]

I think what the government really needs to do is clear the path for nuclear and renewables. That means streamlining the process for brining this stuff online. Licensing a nuclear plant or wind farm should not be a multi decade legal epic. That is the root of the "delays that drive up costs". All new cars should be flex-fuel capable, so that bio fuels can be used to the extent that they become available. And there are some things, like compact fluorescents, that make sense for conservation. The problem is that what the enviros really want is to ban the Industrial Revolution and return to our previous state of Harmony with Gaia.

[megatherium]

All excellent ideas. I think they're already trying to make nuclear easier to license. They've already arranged it so that certain standard plant designs are pre-licensed, unlike in decades past when every plant was essentially custom-designed. They want the site licenses and the operating licenses to be also easy to arrange -- before construction begins. The industry is going to finesse the site licensing problem by putting new nukes next to old ones. I think right now they're about to apply for licenses for 14 plants or some such number.