Thursday, March 02, 2006

Didn't know that Nuclear is "renewable" energy . . .


Hey solarDwellers:

Just a quick post today . . . couldn't let a soundbite by our current President during a press conference in India regarding their "deal" to sell nuclear fuel for civilian power generation, even though India isn't part of the non-proliferation treaty.

Bush actually said nuclear(nuculer) will help the world energy situation because it is "renewable energy." Wowwww!!! Granted, nuclear's advantage is that it doesn't emit greenhouse gases, but Rove has gone over the top on this one. No mention of the huge waste problem. His calculus: no carbon emissions = use the
term "renewable." Make it sound green, in the same breath with solar and wind. Just blurring, nay, erasing the distinction between non-carbon emitting and renewable. Nuclear may not emit like a coal plant, but last I checked, uranium is sucked out the ground like oil, and not quite "renewable", unless Bush's energy department has learned how to turn dirt into nuclear fuel.

Finally, Bush's argument is that supporting nuclear energy in India helps the whole world's energy situation because there's just not enough of that fossil fuel to go around. I heard one radio commentator say the translation is: "China and India: don't use all "our" oil; please conserve." Can you say SUV or weak CAFE standards??

I see how nuclear is a controversial energy "solution," and how some could favor it because of their worry of greenhouse gases from coal/oil, but, come one, "renewable"???!!! Let's come back to reality. Kind a sounds like "Clear Skies Initiative." When they speak on the environment, think the opposite.

More solar nuggets tomorrow . . .

--the solarDweller

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1 comment:

Mridul Kashatria said...

Hi SolarDweller,
I share the same thoughts, "renewable" energy means that the *source* is renewable, like Sun, Water wind etc.
How can he classify nuclear as renewable as uranium is extracted from earth, just like any other fossil fuel.
And why developed world is raising such hue and cry on India and China.
You know India produces 11% of its power from hydro and around 2% from renewables including biomass, and many more projects are in the making.
Now, when US, UK were developing did they ever thought about the enviornment?
You know, I heard in BBC news that a new campaign has started in UK which asks people to switch their inefficient bulbs with energy efficient ones. And we, here in India, are already using these efficient bulbs for years.
---------
Mridul
http://SunEnergyWorld.blogspot.com