From: dean@vexcel.com (dean alaska)
Subject: Re: ZERO Nuclear impact (was: Is car pooling for real? etc)
Organization: VEXCEL Corporation, Boulder, CO
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1992 21:09:30 GMT

In article <1992Jul22.200320.7520@murdoch.acc.Virginia.EDU> crb7q@kelvin.seas.Virginia.EDU (Cameron Randale Bass) writes:
>In article <1992Jul21.232009.1209@nmt.edu> houle@nmt.edu (Paul Houle) writes:
>>photovoltaics plus storage in almost all of the lower 48.  Or maybe you'll
>>realize the fantastic supply of sustainable wind energy that blows through
>>Nebraska or the rest of the states of the Great Plains.  This doesn't even
>>tie up the land -- windmills fit right in with agriculture and grazing.
>
>    Agreed completely.  And for around $25,000, I could do just that.
>    Fortunately, power does not cost me anywhere near as much as the
>    amortization and maintenence costs (even for all the machines that 
>    my wife and I rely on to work as well as our household appliances).
>
>    And my subdivision does not allow windmills ...
>
But a utility could install these more cheaply than they could a
huge new coal or nuclear plant.

>>	Beyond just sustainable ways of producing energy,  there are also
>>great steps to be made in the area of using it efficiently;  it is believed
>>that America's consumption of electricity could be cut by 70% without making
>>any sacrifices...  Hell,  a well-designed compact flourescent produces
>>better quality light than an incadescent and lasts ten times as long,  which
>>makes it more convenient to boot.  Similarly,  a well-insulated refrigerator
>>keeps a more even temperature inside.
>
>     If one assumes market efficiency, there is always a sacrifice 
>     in cutting electricity usage.  

The upfront capital costs will be paid for with the savings.  Such
efficiency strategies could be used to prevent the need for new
capacity until PV is ready.  PG&E in CA plans to meet 75% of its
new capacity requirements over the next decade or two with efficiency
and the other 25% with renewables.
>
>>	If nuclear power advocates would just give up their luddite-like
>>apprehension towards sustainable technologies,  then we might actually
>>start developing a sane energy technology for this country and the world.
>
>     I have absolutely no fear of sustainables, just a fear of being
>     led down the garden path by the incorrect economic assumptions
>     of advocates.
>
>     Show me a renewable system that competes economically with 
>     the service I get from Virginia Power, and I'll switch tomorrow.
>     (Oh by the way, I'm not going to rewire all of my capital goods
>     in anticipation).
>
Hybrid solar thermal plants (they use some natural gas, too) are creating
100's of MW for the grid at about $.085/kwh now.  PV may not be ready for
utility scale usage now, but it may be by the time many coal plants are
retired.
>                               dale bass
>
>--
>C. R. Bass                                           crb7q@virginia.edu
>Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
>University of Virginia
>Charlottesville, Virginia                            (804) 924-7926


-- 

		dingo in boulder	(dean@vexcel.com)
Newsgroups: sci.environment,sci.physics,sci.energy