The only viable solutions to this are biofuel (which isn’t workable except maybe for biodiesel) or electric. Electric only works if the whole generation chain is de-linked from fossil fuels (because the fossil fuel market is global; unless the Zer0 is planning to completely isolate the us from teh global market), so that means the only viable generation source for that much electric power is nuclear.
Somehow I don’t see the greens going for that one, not that they’re known for actually thinking anything through to that extent.
To expand on the generation problem:
Solar and Wind are not cost-effective. Both require a massive storage infrastructure which does not exist in order to maintain output at a steady level. Further, wind generators have turned out to be far more maintenance-intensive (and therefore costly) than they were originally described to be, and they are also far more environmentally disruptive than originally portrayed, generating massive amounts of infrasound and killing birds at a much higher rate than anyone foresaw.
Coal generation is already on the way out, thanks to Zer0’s anti-coal policies.
NatGas is tied to the world petroleum market, so Zer0 has to either de-link domestic production from all external markets, or it’s not viable either (and doesn’t meet his non-pollution intentions).
Hydro is already on the way out too, thanks to the greenies, not that it ever had the capacity to take over powering the entire US private vehicle fleet.
Lots of new nuke plants would easily do the trick, if the greenies can be convinced to allow them.
I suspect that Zer0 actually prefers that *no* solution be found, so that his dream of a socialist “paradise” a la North Korea can finally be realized in the US.
The biggest user of diesel in the world is the US Military, and most leaps in technology get their start as US Military orders. No government worker, no matter how smart, is going to solve the biodiesel puzzle. Government jobs always become red tape affirmative 3-day weekend pretend jobs. But give the military enough funding and hire the brightest minds to solve the puzzle and they will. Since 2/3rds of Earth's surface is saltwater the obvious solution is genetically optimized saltwater algae, which is exactly where all the original energy in petroleum came from anyway. The biggest risk though is how to keep such algae from going Kudzu and covering the oceans with a 10 foot deep oil slick and sucking all of the CO2 plant food out of the air.
“so that means the only viable generation source for that much electric power is nuclear.
Somehow I don’t see the greens going for that one, not that they’re known for actually thinking anything through to that extent.”
Actually, some of them have, in a big way. I think that many of the objections to our PRESENT nuclear power are valid - but we’ve learned a lot in 60 years, and if that was applied, nuclear would be safe, clean, and available very long-term (possibly hundreds of years), during which time SOMEONE is going to figure out fusion power.