#Union of Concerned Scientists

The inherent gross inefficiency of the internal combustion engine surpasses even that of conventional thermal power plants.  About 5% of the energy in the fuel actually moves a typical automobile.  Battery electric vehicles, fuel-cell electrics, plug-in hybrids and others that eschew ICE technology get much more bang for the buck.  California is proving this, as […]

CAFE – That stands for Corporate Average Fuel Economy.  What President Obama announced today was a much higher federal requirement, negotiated with the car companies, for more miles per gallon on average for cars sold in the United States.  As we know, Lower Gasoline Consumption = Lower GHG Output.  How much?  Billions of tons of […]

In an op-ed last week at the NY Times, Robert Bryce of the Manhattan Institute, reiterated the same old tired and tiresome nonsense about renewable energy:  It’s not good enough to get the job done.  As I’ve noted here a number of times, that particular Big Lie is easily refuted.  See 80% Renewable – The […]

In a previous post, I flagged an analysis by Robert Alvarez on the situation with the spent fuel pools.  Here is a look from this morning at the situation from another expert, David Wright, at the Union of Concerned Scientists:  Spent Fuel Pools at Fukushima.  Wright concludes that the indications are that the water level […]

The events of the past several days in Japan are in many ways beyond the scope of the mind to comprehend.  Thousands of lives were swept away in an instant.  I walked around the World Trade Center on September 12, 2001 and had a very hard time then being able to grasp the enormity of […]

Yesterday I mentioned a number of big-ticket reasons to think that nuclear power is a very bad bet indeed:  It bleeds money from smarter, cheaper and much more climate-friendly options; it’s dangerous; it’s radically inefficient; it’s not, at the end of the day – that is to say, through the whole life cycle – a […]

I’ve written about nuclear power here a number of times.  To be upfront with you:  I’ve been an opponent for almost 40 years, since long before Chernobyl and Three Mile Island.  I have seen very little along the way to change my views.  In the light of the specter of climate change, I’ve tried to […]

A recent article in the “LA Times” about the projected boom in hydropower caught my eye this morning because one of my students asked last night about the growth of hydro in the US.  I told her that it was my perception that hydroelectric use was not growing.  That has certainly been the trend in […]

The “NY Times” reports today on the massive cost overruns of a nuclear power plant at Olkiluoto in Finland and, in the end, the uncertainty of the date of its completion, testing and operation – if ever.  The article reports that the difficulties with this flagship in the new generation of nuclear plants is making […]

I just wanted to flag what I thought were some pretty good items out and about in the media lately. China and Climate Change – One of the go-to guys for progressive economics, Paul Krugman, has a column today, Empire of Carbon, that is both pessimistic and optimistic.  (Boy, do I know that feeling when […]