Let me start out by saying I'm not necessarily pro nuclear energy - I consider myself primarily anti-fossil fuels and I've come to believe over the last year or so that nuclear energy will be key if we want to get rid of coal and other fossil based fuels.  Nuclear energy diaries may be the most contentious ones that are written on this site and since I started to comment in diaries on this topic, I've seen many of the same arguments come up over and over again, so I've decided to start a diary series to attempt to address some of these issues.  

The first one tries to examine whether nuclear energy is really so much more expensive than wind or solar based solutions.  If you're interested in seeing how much electricity produced from an overbudget nuclear plant in Finland, T Boone Pickens' wind farm, or a planned desert solar plant would cost, please read on.

August 6, 1945 was the horrible dawn of the atomic age at Hiroshima.

It's also the less well-known debut of an equally iconic, equally American killing technology:  the electric chair, which claimed its first victim on August 6, 1890 in New York's Auburn Prison.

This weird hybrid of penal reformism, naive techno-optimism and cutthroat corporate competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse made a nauseating botch of its maiden usage upon the person of otherwise obscure wife-murderer William Kemmler.

Cross-posted from Executed Today

A tiny $10 million grant to some bright people has resulted in the discovery of a truly world changing discovery.
"This project was funded by the National Science Foundation and by the Chesonis Family Foundation, which gave MIT $10 million this spring to launch the Solar Revolution Project, with a goal to make the large scale deployment of solar energy within 10 years. "
From : http://www.sciencedaily.com/...
A simple, cheap reliable technology to convert sunlight to usable, storable energy.
This is the kind of result that comes about when really smart people are allowed to follow their ideas without any expectation of profit. In this case a seemingly outlandish effort to mimic photosynthesis worked!

I heard this on American Public Media's Marketplace program this evening, and it really does look like a chemist at MIT has made a discovery that could revolutionize the way we produce and consume electricity. MIT's public relations department says

[W]ithin 10 years, homeowners [may] be able to power their homes in daylight through photovoltaic cells, while using excess solar energy to produce hydrogen and oxygen to power their own household fuel cell. Electricity-by-wire from a central source could be a thing of the past.

More on the flip

Appalachian Coal Prices Hit $140 Per Ton

We can lower the amount of greenhouses gases produced by electric power, which now generates 36 percent of our carbon emissions. Emissions will grow dramatically as the demand for electricity increases unless we significantly change the way we produce power through new investments in renewable energy sources and advanced-coal energy production.

crossposted from unbossed

Ever have an epiphany about the meaning of everything and how it all fits together? Well, I can't say I have quite achieved that, but at least part way along. It all happened as I was washing my hands in a very up-to-date restroom.

Al Gore has set a challenge: 100% clean electricity, 100%!

Get us (the US, and eventually, all the globe) off coal.

And, determine to do this within a decade.

People are going to scream that this is impossible. They will be wrong.  This is possible, difficult to do in the timeline perhaps, but absolutely possible.  They are wrong.

Al Gore is now giving a major speech in Washington, setting out an ambitious goal for the USA to produce all of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2020. While I have not heard the speech yet, I thought I'd comment on the technical feasibility of the plan, and the underlying economics of such an endeavour.

from the Department of Energy's recently published study about bringing wind power to 20% of total generation

The short answer is: while 100% is probably unrealistic, it's not unreasonable to expect to be able to get pretty close to that number (say, in the 50-90% range) in that timeframe, and it is very likely that it makes a LOT of sense economically.

Initially on European Tribune, and also on the Oil Drum. UPDATE: see disclosure below the fold.

Energy consumption in the presto household goes through the roof in the summer.  Turning off the air conditioner isn't an option.  The heat will destroy the computer equipment here (completely unacceptable).  The current bill indicates 3200 kilowatt hours of consumption, at a cost of $350.  I considered hitting my thumb with a hammer to take my mind off of that piece of joy.  I am tired of being a slave to the electric company.

As is so often the case, I used the tubes to find information on converting to solar power.  I found I'd need approximately $55,000 worth of equipment to get off the grid in the summer.  That's a lot of money to pay for summertime electricity.  A smaller expenditure would help with the monthly bills in the summer, and get me off the grid in the winter (heat is rarely necessary).  Also, the system can be expanded over time until your electricity is truly free.

Do not let the numbers of my case discourage you.  I'm going to tell you what I found, where I found it and how I feel about it.  If you don't live in an inferno, then converting to solar energy can easily improve your standard of living.  Screw giving hard earned money to the corporations wingnuts love so much.

Details after the flip.

This article, in the Roanoke Times, should be a heads up to everyone in the country.

Roanoke, Virginia is in a very temperate region, with winter temperatures falling from slightly below 20 degrees and rising to a high of over 100 degrees, with an annual average of between 60 degrees and 80 degrees.

With the startling statement:

No matter how you heat, be prepared for costs to rise significantly this winter.

our local newspaper is delivering a dire warning and begging for people to begin to prepare for the coming Fall/Winter season.

Call me an optimist.  Coal is king, tar sands oil is booming, the arctic is melting, tropical cyclones keep setting new records, and my own city is still flooded.  Yet, in these times, a revolution in both energy and electrified transportation is taking place right beneath our noses, and perhaps nowhere are we seeing the seeds of this being planted more than on the island of Oahu.

Read on to learn more about the world you may be leaving to your grandchildren and the role Hawaii's third largest island may play in bringing it about.

City of Houston Gives Wind Power a Turn

HOUSTON -- The heart of the U.S. oil patch on Tuesday began using wind-powered electricity for about a fourth of its municipal power needs at a lower price than it is paying for power produced from coal and natural gas, city officials said.

The move shows how renewable energy's prospects are improving at a time of soaring fossil-fuel prices. Long derided as an expensive niche, wind power now is moving closer to the mainstream.

Yes, wind is cheap enough to be competitive head on with coal and gas - even as they aren't taxed for the pollution they cause or the carbon emissions they generate.

Another of my wind diaries.

Crossposted at Politicook.net

Last time we talked about the gas laws mainly, and I realize that this is not exactly a pageturner of a topic, but is important for two reasons:  to have a basic familiarity with how gases behave, and to show that these concepts were worked out, in some cases, over two centuries ago.  I find this fascinating, because everything was done by hand.  No computers, no calculators, no slide rules, and only the most basic of instrumentation (basically a balance and a crude barometer).

This time we will look at a few specialized applications for gases, and then a look at a few gases of particular interest.  If your favorite is not covered, speak up in a comment!

Dr. James E. Hansen, of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, made a call to arms on Global Warming two decades ago.  Yesterday he made, what he calls, a final call to arms against the most pressing of issues facing our planet; Global Warming.  Dr. Hansen claims we are standing at the edge of the abyss, unaware of what we are peering into and prepared to soldier on, caring little if our next step finds solid ground or not.  He claims that we are only seconds from a tipping point, where whatever we do may never reverse the damage we have done to our planet and set ourselves on the fast track to extinction.  Our world is in peril and they look to America for leadership.  Will the rest of the world find that leadership they expect from the country that brazenly calls itself "the last great super power"?

More after the break...

Plug-in-Hybrid-Electric-Vehicles (PHEVs) offer "a path that can unite America," according to David Sandalow, in his opening talk today to the Google/Brookings Institution two-day conference Plug-In Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington?

Oil prices are at record highs. The overwhelming dependence of our cars and trucks on oil strains family budgets, threatens our national security and contributes to global warming. Plug-in electric vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce the United States’ dependence on oil. Yet can this potential be realized? If so, how? Is there a national interest in putting millions of plug-in vehicles on the road soon? How should policymakers in Washington, D.C., respond?

Our nation, and our world is quickly moving toward crisis.  Oil prices continue to grow, mountaintops in Appalachia are being bulldozed, and the environment is reeling.  To combat this coming crisis, many are exploring the alternatives to the fossil fuels that currently power the planet.

In my short time as a member of DailyKos I’ve (happily) seen many stories and comments discussing the new and exciting technology emerging in the field of alternative energy.  As an engineer by trade, and as someone who has been following these topics for years, it elates me to see others interested and working to advance an alternative energy agenda.  In keeping with my belief that discussion and debate are always good things, I wanted to contribute.

It is in this vein that I set out to write this "State of Alternative Energy" series.

I intend to cover several alternative energy technologies, where they stand in development, where they are going, and how they may impact our world.  In this second article, I’d like to talk about the quiet energy monster that's been building steam for literally hundreds of years.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems.

As oil remains over $130 a barrel, gas prices passed $4 a gallon on average for the first time ever, and the recession starts to make it's presence felt with an unemployment jump to 5.5%, we're in sorry shape energywise.

But worry not, my friends, for we are on the edge of a revolutionary change - one that, during the short span of Obama's 8 year term as POTUS, we will see a dramatic shift in how we think about energy and travel.  More over the fold.