This year, because of the ignorance, fear and superstition of the anti-nuke cults, Germany will be dumping an extra 500 million metric tons of dangerous fossil fuel waste into the earth's atmosphere.
Last year, 2010, the world set a record for dumping dangerous fossil fuel waste, at 30.5 billion metric tons, as I noted in a recent diary.
Recently in this space, an ignorant, fearful and superstitious anti-nuke - a um, sock puppet who once wrote here under another name - published a diary claiming that anti-nuke rhetoric was not about coal, which is, of course, a pretty bald lie, since there is one, and only one form of energy that has a higher capacity utilization (reflecting baseload use) than coal plants, which operate at approximately 72% capacity utilization. These are nuclear plants. Nuclear plants are the most reliable - as well as the cleanest - power plants in the world, with capacity utilization of up to 90%.
The main thing that shuts nuclear power plants is fear, ignorance and superstition.
The anti-nuke liars in Germany are now coming forth with the results of their scheme:
Germany to Fund New Coal and Gas Plants with Climate Funds.
The German government wants to encourage the construction of new coal and gas power plants with millions of euros from a fund for promoting clean energy and combating climate change.
The plan has come under stiff criticism, but the Ministry of Economics and Technology defended the idea. A spokeswoman said it was necessary as the government switches from nuclear to other renewable energy sources and added that the money would promote the most efficient plants possible.
Funding for the initiative is limited to five percent of the energy and climate change fund’s annual expenditure between 2013 and 2016.
Annual funding for the new plants could total more than €160 million per year between 2013 and 2014 alone, the Berliner Zeitung newspaper reported on Wednesday.
The fund was first established to encourage nuclear plant operators to develop new, renewable forms of energy production. Now that nuclear power is to be phased out by 2022, the fund will pay for research into reducing carbon dioxide emissions from buildings, developing renewable energy sources and storage technologies for them.
All of this is scientific, economic, and most importantly moral garbage.
I have a recent series of diaries in process about wishful thinking (as well as fear, ignorance and superstition that is the stock in trade of the anti-nuke cults) that is addressing aspects of this German fraud, it's delusions, and it's lies.
The first of this series is here: How Are Those Carbon Stabilization "Wedgies" Working Out? Part I: Conservation and Efficiency.
The anti-nuke cults like to pretend that what they write is not about coal, but the German action - which is classic Orwellian doublespeak - give lie to their, um, lies.
What this is, of course, is denial not to mention the moral and intellectual equivalent of creationism.
Every single anti-nuke - there are no exceptions - is an apologist for dangerous fossil fuels, which kill 2 million people per year, 5,000 people a day, more than 200 people per hour, 3 to 4 per minute, every minute, every hour, every day, every year.
Two million per year. More than five thousand per day. More than 200 per hour.
There are no anti-nukes, zero, who have the moral depth of a withered lemon rind, not that I wish to insult withered lemon rinds.