Tuesday, May 03, 2005

The lesser of energy evils?

James Locklove, originator of the Gaia Hypothesis, has riled environmentalists by claiming nuclear power is the only green solution capable of fending off global warming.

Meanwhile, the EU has two top priorities in energy research, aimed at cutting carbon emissions to keep up with the Kyoto Protocol: clean coal technologies, and underground sequestering of carbon dioxide from power plants.

Now that oil is becoming a liability, coal and nuclear are rising to the fore due to economic pressures. Alternative energy apparently isn't ramping up quickly enough to meet the expected need nor stave off global warming.

On a related note, last month China announced that it intends to build 40 new nuclear power plants by 2020. Currently, coal provides most of China's energy needs.

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