Power Hungry

by Robert Bryce

  34 Recall that wind gets $23.37 per megawatt-hour, and gas gets $0.25. Gas generated 900 billion kilowatt-hours, and wind generated 31 billion kilowatt-hours.

  35 Energy Information Administration, “Federal Financial Interventions and Subsidies in Energy Markets 2007,” xviii.

  Chapter 27

  1 Environmental Defense Fund, “Fact Sheet,” n.d., http://www.edf.org/documents/2978_FactSheet_aboutus.pdf.

  2 Fred Krupp speech at CERAWeek, Houston, Texas, February 12, 2009.

  3 H. Josef Hebert, “Nuclear Waste Won’t Be Going to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, Obama Official Says,” Associated Press, March 6, 2009, http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-nuke-yucca_frimar06,0,2557502.story.

  4 The Hill, “Reid Vows to Block New Push for Yucca Mountain Nuke Site,” April 6, 2006, http://hill6.thehill.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=59718.

  5 Hebert, “Nuclear Waste Won’t Be Going to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.”

  6 Republican Party, “2008 Republican Platform,” http://platform.gop.com/2008Platform.pdf, 32.

  7 Democratic Party, “Renewing America’s Promise: Democratic Party Platform, 2008,” http://www.democrats.org/a/party/platform.html, 47.

  8 William Tucker, Terrestrial Energy: How Nuclear Power Will Lead the Green Revolution and End America’s Energy Odyssey (Savage, MD: Bartleby Press, 2008), 345, 352.

  9 World Nuclear Association, “Waste Management in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle,” n.d., www.world-nuclear.org/info/info04.html.

  10 Amory B. Lovins and Imran Sheikh, “The Nuclear Illusion,” Rocky Mountain Institute, May 27, 2008, http://www.rmi.org/rmi/Library/E08=01_NuclearIllusion.

  11 Vaclav Smil, Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999), 172.

  12 Institute for 21st Century Energy, “Revisiting America’s Nuclear Waste Policy,” May 2009, http://www.energyxxi.org/reports/Nuclear_Waste_Policy.pdf, 2.

  13 TED.com, “Stewart Brand Proclaims 4 Environmental Heresies,” June 2009, video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxwiVFgghE.

  14 USEC.com, “Metagons to Megawatts,” http://www.usec.com/megatonstomegawatts.htm.

  15 See CEA.fr, “What Is Transmutation?” n.d., http://www.cea.fr/var/cea/storage/static/gb/library/Clefs53/pdf-gb/ence-abf_53gb.pdf.

  16 Gwyneth Cravens, Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy (New York: Knopf, 2008), 265.

  17 Swadesh Mahajan, interview with author, October 14, 2009.

  18 Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Transuranic Element,” n.d., http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/transuranic-element.html. For neptunium info, see “Neptunium Facts: Chemical and Physical Properties,” http://chemistry.about.com/od/elementfacts/a/neptunium.htm.

  19 Malcolm Browne, “Modern Alchemists Transmute Nuclear Waste,” New York Times, October 29, 1991, http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/29/science/modern-alchemists-transmute-nuclear-waste.html.

  20 Martin Avery Snyder and Harold Weitzner, “The Road to Endless Energy,” Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, New York University, December 12, 2008.

  21 Hans A. Bethe, “The Fusion Hybrid,” Physics Today, May 1979, 50.

  22 Ed Gerstner, “The Hybrid Returns,” Nature, July 2, 2009, 27.

  23 U.S. Department of Energy, “Waste Isolation Pilot Plant,” http://www.wipp.energy.gov/.

  Chapter 28

  1 Energy Information Administration, “Annual Energy Outlook 2009 with Projections to 2030,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/electricity.html.

  2 Energy Information Administration, “Total Electric Power Industry Summary Statistics,” http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/tablees1b.html.

  3 Energy Information Administration, “Annual Energy Outlook 2009,” Figure 55, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/excel/figure55_data.xls.

  4 CBS News, “Al Gore: Energy Crisis Can Be Fixed,” July 17, 2008, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/17/eveningnews/main4270123.shtml.

  5 The U.S. Navy doesn’t publish actual output data. John Pike of Globalsecurity .org estimates output at about 50,000 horsepower, which equals 37.3 megawatts.

  6 Robert Bryce, “Nukes Get Small,” Energy Tribune, July 16, 2008, http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm?aid=948.

  7 Ibid.

  8 NuScale, “NuScale Fact Sheet,” http://www.nuscalepower.com/nr-Press-Fact-Sheet-NuScale.php.

  9 Babcock.com, “B&W Power Generation Group: Historic Milestones,” n.d., http://www.babcock.com/business_units/power_gen_group/facts_historic_milestones.html.

  10 Yahoo! Finance, “McDermott International, Inc.: Income Statement,” http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=MDR&annual.

  11 U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “Design Certification Applications for New Reactors,” http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert.html.

  12 Richard A. Muller, Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines (New York: W. W. Norton, 2008), 334.

  13 Tim Dean, “New Age Nuclear,” Cosmos, April 2006, http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348/full.

  14 Mitch Jacoby, “Reintroducing Thorium,” Chemical & Engineering News, November 16, 2009, http://pubs.acs.org/cen/email/html/8746sci2.html.

  15 Seth Grae, “Thorium,” Chemical & Engineering News, n.d. (copyright is 2003), http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/thorium.html.

  16 Foreign Relations of the United States, Volume E-7, Document 298, “Indian Nuclear Developments and Their Likely Implications,” n.d. (period covered is 1969–1976), http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/frus/nixon/e7txt/50225.htm.

  17 Scott DiSavino, “Interview: Lightbridge Sees Nuclear Power Future in Thorium,” December 11, 2009, http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-44659520091211?sp=true.

  18 Lightbridge, “Corporate Overview,” n.d., http://www.Ltbridge.com/images/Thorium-Power-Ltd.-Information-Kit.pdf.

  19 For more on other reactor designs, including the very high temperature reactor and the sodium-cooled fast reactor, see The Economist, “Nuclear’s Next Generation,” December 10, 2009, http://www.economist.com/sciencetechnology/tq/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1 5048703.

  20 International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2009, 160.

  21 Richard Rhodes and Denis Beller, “The Need for Nuclear Power,” Foreign Affairs , February 2000, http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull422/42204784350.pdf, 50.

  Chapter 29

  1 International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2008, 178.

  2 Ibid., 159.

  3 First Solar, “First Solar Passes $1 Per Watt Industry Milestone,” February 24, 2009, http://investor.firstsolar.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=201491&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1259614&highlight=.

  4 ESolar, “Our Solution,” http://www.esolar.com/solution.html.

  5 Katie Howell, “Exxon Sinks $600M into Algae-Based Biofuels in Major Strategy Shift,” New York Times, July 14, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/07/14/14greenwire-exxon-sinks-600m-into-algae-based-biofuels-in-33562.html.

  6 Todd Woody, “Solar Power When the Sun Goes Down?” New York Times, November 3, 2009, http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/solar-power-when-the-sun-goes-down/.

  7 Todd Woody, “Dow Unveils Solar Shingles,” New York Times, October 7, 2009, http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/10/07/dow-unveils-solar-shingles/.

  8 Jim Ostroff, “Eight Innovations That Will Change Your Future,” Kiplinger Letter, December 9, 2009, http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/eight-innovations-that-will-change-your-future.html.

  9 Andrew Taylor, “Obama’s Budget Cuts Take Aim at 121 Federal Programs,” Associated Press, May 8, 2009, http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/05/08/obamas_budget_cuts_take_aim_at_121_federal_programs/.

  10 Mother Jones, “Lie by Lie: The Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline (8/1/90–2/14/08),” n.d., http://www.motherjones.com/bush_war_timeline.

  11 Ibid.

  12 Dafna Linzer, “Before Iraq War, US Ignored Work of UN Arms Inspectors, Panel
Says,” Washington Post, April 4, 2005, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002230005_intel04.html.

  13 International Atomic Energy Agency, “Transcripts of Interviews,” September 1, 2009, http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Transcripts/2009/bas010909.html.

  14 Time, “10 Questions for Mohamed ElBaradei,” August 17, 2009, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1914983,00.html.

  15 Roger Cohen, “Bunkers or Breakthrough?” New York Times, November 5, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/06/opinion/06iht-edcohen.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1258954347-wP/SZxb94bd5d5GepPd7rA.

  16 International Atomic Energy Agency, “The ‘Atoms for Peace’ Agency,” http://www.iaea.org/About/index.html.

  17 Ibid. In 2008, the agency’s budget was 277 million euros.

  18 White House, “Remarks by President Barack Obama,” Prague, Czech Republic, April 5, 2009, http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered/.

  19 Wikipedia, “David E. Lilienthal,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_E. _Lilienthal.

  20 The Acheson-Lilienthal Report, March 16, 1946, http://honors.umd.edu/HONR269J//archive/AchesonLilienthal.html.

  21 For further discussions of the caucus-versus-primary semantics, see Iowacaucus .org, http://www.iowacaucus.org/iacaucus.html, or American Political Science Association, “Why Should Iowa Remain the First Presidential Primary?” March 12, 2009, http://www.apsanet.org/content_63423.cfm.

  22 Energy Policy Act, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_bills&docid=f:h6enr.txt.pdf.

  23 Energy Independence and Security Act, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h6enr.txt.pdf.

  24 American Clean Energy and Security Act, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:h2454pcs.txt.pdf.

  25 Peter Lattman, “Lawyers in the US Senate Quiz: The Answers,” September 5, 2007, http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/09/05/lawyers-in-the-us-senate-quiz-the-answers/.

  26 National Society of Professional Engineers, “Professional Engineers in Congress,” n.d., http://www.nspe.org/GovernmentRelations/TakeAction/IssueBriefs/ib_pro_eng_congress.html.

  27 Ibid. For more on Barton, see http://joebarton.house.gov/Back.aspx?Page=Biography.

  28 Sara Ditta, “A Remedy for What Ails Us: More Doctors in 111th Congress,” Roll Call, January 7, 2009, http://kagen.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=299:a-remedy-for-what-ails-us-more-doctors-in-111th-congress& catid=66:in-the-news&Itemid=195.

  29 Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, “Number of Lawyers in CCBE Member Bars,” http://www.ccbe.org/fileadmin/user_upload/NTCdocument/table_number_lawyers1_1179905628.pdf.

  30 Wikianswers, http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_total_number_of_lawyers_in_the_US.

  31 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2009_downloads/renewables_section_2009.pdf. Ahead of Iran, in order, are China, Indonesia, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Qatar, South Korea, and Iceland.

  32 Central Intelligence Agency, World Factbook, “Middle East: Iran,” https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ir.html.

  33 Brett Jarman, “Iranian CNG Revolution Continues—1.5 Million NGVs and Growing,” NGVGlobal.com, August 5, 2009, http://www.ngvglobal.com/iranian-cng-revolution-continues-1-5-million-ngvs-and-growing-0805#more-3640.

  34 International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, “Natural Gas Vehicle Statistics,” http://www.iangv.org/tools-resources/statistics.html.

  35 University of Missouri, “Corncobs Key to Licensing Agreement for Natural Gas Storage Tanks,” May 13, 2009, http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2009/0513-suppes-pfeifer-natural-gas-license.php. See also Green Car Congress, “COFs Among the Best Adsorbents for Storage of Hydrogen, Natural Gas and CO2,” June 7, 2009, http://www.greencarcongress.com/2009/06/cofs-20090607.html.2

  36 National Post, “Graphic: The State of Nuclear Power,” July 31, 2009, http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2009/07/31/graphic-the-state-of-nuclear-power.aspx.

  37 Areva, All About Nuclear Energy: From Atom to Zirconium. (Paris: Areva, 2008), 105.

  38 For more on Taylor’s views, see: Jerry Taylor, “Nuclear Energy: Risky Business,” Reason.com, October 21, 2008, http://reason.org/news/show/1003239.html.

  39 e360, “Leveling Appalachia,” n.d., http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2198.

  40 The legal fights over this type of mining have been ongoing for years. For instance, see Ken Ward Jr., “4 Mining Permits Blocked,” Charleston Gazette, March 24, 2007, http://wvgazette.com/News/MiningtheMountains/200703240003.

  41 Eric Bontrager, “EPA Puts Brakes on 3 More Mountaintop Mining Permits,” Greenwire, April 9, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2009/04/09/09greenwire-epa-puts-brakes-on-3-more-mountaintop-permits-10493.html?scp=26&sq=energy%20regulation%20and%20sierra%20club&st=cse.

  42 Ken Ward Jr., “Exclusive: Patriot Coal Says—We Can Mine It Underground,” Coal Tattoo, August 14, 2009, http://blogs.wvgazette.com/coaltattoo/2009/08/14/exclusive-patriot-coal-says-we-can-mine-it-underground/#more-1081.

  43 World Bank, “World Bank Calls for More Results in Gas Flaring Reduction,” December 5, 2008, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,content-MDK: 22003319~pagePK:34370~piPK:34424~theSitePK:4607,00.html. The World Bank puts total flared gas at 150 billion cubic meters. To convert meters to cubic feet, multiply by 35.3. For conversions, see BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.

  44 Recall that 1 barrel of crude is equal to 5,487 cubic feet of gas.

  45 World Bank, “World Bank Calls for More Results.”

  46 Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, “Iraq: Assessment of Progress in Economic Reconstruction and Governmental Capacity,” December 2005, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=109_cong_senate_committee_prints&docid=f:24804.pdf, 5.

  47 BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2009.

  48 R3 Sciences, http://www.r3sciences.com/.

  49 Exxon Mobil has begun marketing a technology that turns dimethyl ether into gasoline. See Robert Rapier, “Energy Potpourri,” R-Squared Energy Blog, October 5, 2008, http://i-r-squared.blogspot.com/2009/10/energy-potpourri.html#links.

  50 Monty Hoyt, “US Burning Its Way Toward Fuel Crisis,” Christian Science Monitor , June 2, 1971, 1.

  51 Matt LeTourneau, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, personal communication with author, August 12, 2009.

  Chapter 30

  1 Peter W. Huber and Mark P. Mills, The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy (New York: Basic Books, 2005), xxvi.

  2 Dennis P. Lockhart, “The US Economy and the Employment Challenge,” fbr atlanta.org, August 26, 2009, http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=572D828F-5056-9F12-12AD9734C17D1C6A&method=display.

  3 Associated Press, “Population Living in Poverty Increasing,” August 19, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/19/national/main5253630.shtml.

  4 Bob Herbert, “A Word, Mr. President,” New York Times, November 9, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/opinion/10herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion.

  5 David Streitfeld, “US Mortgage Delinquencies Reach a Record High,” New York Times, November 19, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/business/20mortgage.html.

  6 Rasmussen Reports, “56% Don’t Want to Pay More to Fight Global Warming,” July 1, 2009, http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/56_don_t_want_to_pay_more_to_fight_global_warming.

  7 Business Week, “The Rise and Fall of Dennis Kozlowski,” December 23, 2002, http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_51/b3813001.htm.

  8 Among the best short explanations of what happened is Michael Lewis’s “The End,” Portfolio.com, November 11, 2008, http://www.port
folio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom/index.html.

  9 Richard Harris, “Putting a Financial Spin on Global Warming,” June 24, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105834436&sc=fb&cc=fp.

  10 William Stanley Jevons, The Coal Question: An Inquiry Concerning the Progress of the Nation, and the Probable Exhaustion of Our Coal Mines (London: Macmillan, 1866), available at http://books.google.com/books?id=cUgPAAAAIAAJ&dq=jevons+and+the+coal+question&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=FR4jmtfbVI&sig=6rp-Zo-8w2TI1jCzUaHlDbHi4po&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA2,M1.

  11 The corollary to that statement is that it is the nature of liberalism to feel bad about it.

  Epilogue

  1 Harlan Kirgan, “Mississippi Sierra Club Calls Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill ‘America’s Chernobyl,’” Mississippi Press, May 2, 2010, http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2010/05/spill_is_americas_chernobyl.html.

  2 Elizabeth Weise, “New Microbe Chows Down on Spilled Oil,” USA Today, September 1, 2010, http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2010–08–24-oil-microbe_N.htm.

  3 Neela Banerjee, “U. S. Lifts Moratorium on Deep-Water Drilling in Gulf of Mexico,” Los Angeles Times, October 13, 2010, http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/13/nation/la-na-oil-moratorium-20101013.

  4 Energy Information Administration data, http://www.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_crd_crpdn_adc_mbblpd_a.htm.

  5 Brian Baskin, “China’s Oil Demand Is Poised to Push Up Prices,” Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2010, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB 100014240527487044 05704575596743559257682.html.

  6 Grant Smith, “China to Drive Energy Surge Through 2035, Warming Planet, IEA Outlook Says,” Bloomberg, November 9, 2010, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010–11–09/china-to-drive-energy-surge-through-2035-warming-planet -iea-outlook-says.html.