by Robert Bryce
64. Texas covers 262,000 square miles; New York, 47,000 square miles; and Ohio 41,000 square miles. See: http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/usabysiz.html.
65. For more, see: http://www.ifpri.org/about/about_menu.asp.
66. Mark W. Rosegrant, “Biofuels and Grain Prices: Impacts and Policy Responses,” International Food Policy Research Institute, May 7, 2008, http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/testimony/rosegrant20080507.asp.
67. Donald Mitchell, “A Note on Rising Food Prices,” World Bank, April 8, 2008, 1, http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Environment/documents/2008/07/10/Biofuels.PDF.
68. Princeton.edu, http://www.princeton.edu/~tsearchi/.
69. Timothy Searchinger, “A Quick Fix to the Food Crisis,” Scientific American, June 16, 2011, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=a-quick-fix-to-the-food-crisis.
70. Ibid.
71. Rob Bailey, “The Trouble with Biofuels: Costs and Consequences of Expanding Biofuel Use in the United Kingdom,” Chatham House, April 2013, http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Energy,%20Environment%20and%20Development/0413pp_biofuels.pdf, 2.
72. Jean Ziegler, Betting on Famine: Why the World Still Goes Hungry (New York: The New Press, 2013), 182.
73. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
74. Zeigler, op. cit., 180.
75. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
76. Ziegler, op. cit., 180.
77. California covers about 424,000 square kilometers. See: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/area.shtml.
78. Economic Research Service, “Major Uses of Land in the United States, 2002,” May 2006, http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib-economic-information-bulletin/eib14.aspx#.UWBMF6t4aRk.
79. Ziegler, op. cit., 187–93.
80. Ibid., 203, 204.
81. Robert Bryce, “Food as Fuel,” Slate, August 1, 2012, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/food/2012/07/drought_and_ethanol_how_congress_mandates_and_the_epa_s_new_policy_are_hurting_americans_.html.
Notes to Chapter 21
1. Charles J. Gans, “International Emmys to Honor Al Gore,” USA Today, November 19, 2007, http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/people/2007–11–18-al-gore_N.htm.
2. Http://www.algore.com/about.html.
3. Http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms2.html.
4. Pilita Clark, “Towards a Standstill,” Financial Times, September 28, 2011.
5. Indeed, climate models may be, in the words of German meteorologist Hans von Storch, “fundamentally wrong.” See: Spiegel Online International, “Climate Expert von Storch: Why is Global Warming Stagnating?” June 20, 2013, http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-hans-von-storch-on-problems-with-climate-change-models-a-906721.html.
6. Mona Charen, “Subsidizing Coastal Disasters,” National Review, June14, 2013, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/351018/subsidizing-coastal-disasters-mona-charen.
7. IEA says that 2.6 billion people are living without clean cooking facilities and 1.3 billion lack access to electricity. See: http://www.iea.org/topics/energypoverty/.
8. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
9. Ibid.
10. Since the 1970s, the Saudis have been producing about 8.2 million barrels of oil per day. See: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2012.
11. Vaclav Smil, “Energy at the Crossroads: Notes for a Presentation at the Global Science Forum Conference on Scientific Challenges for Energy Research,” Paris, May 17–18, 2006, http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/52/25/36760950.pdf.
12. BP data from 2011, http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/globalbp_uk_english/reports_and_publications/statistical_energy_review_2008/STAGING/local_assets/2010_downloads/2030_energy_outlook_booklet.pdf.
13. EIA, International Energy Outlook 2011, http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/ieo/.
14. Associated Press, “Climate Talk Shifts from Curbing CO2 to Adapting,” June 15, 2013.
15. Economist, “You’re Going to Get Wet,” June 15, 2013, http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21579470-americans-are-building-beachfront-homes-even-oceans-rise-youre-going-get-wet.
16. Note that for natural gas, I used the lowest-cost of the various generation types, which in this case was called “advanced.” I also used the lowest-cost example for coal.
17. EIA data: http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/aeo/electricity_generation.cfm.
18. Natural Gas Vehicles for America data, http://www.ngvc.org/about_ngv/.
19. IEA press release, May 24, 2012, http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/news/2012/may/name,27216,en.html.
20. Max Luke, “Nuclear and Gas Account for Most Carbon Displacement Since 1950,” Breakthrough Institute, September 3, 2013, http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate//nuclear-and-gas-account-for-most-carbon-displacement-since-1950/.
21. NGVC.org, http://www.ngvc.org/about_ngv/ngv_environ.html.
22. IEA, Medium-Term Gas Market Report, June 2013, 51.
23. Ibid., 4.
24. IEA data, http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/speeches/130611MTGMRLaunchpresentation_slides.pdf.
25. US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works press release, May 24, 2011, http://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressRoom.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=23eb85dd-802a-23ad-43f9-da281b2cd287.
26. Here’s the math:
60,000 cubic feet of gas = 60,000,000 Btu = 60,000,000 J 60,000,000 J / 86,400 seconds in a day = 694,444 W 694,444 × 0.33 = 229,166 W If we assume a 2-acre well site (8094 square meters), then 229,166 W / 8094 = 28.3 W/m2.
27. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density.
28. The IEA puts recoverable global gas resources at 850 trillion cubic meters. See World Energy Outlook 2009, executive summary, 49. A cubic meter contains 35.3 cubic feet.
29. Global gas consumption is about 117 trillion cubic feet per year. See BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
30. Sarah Young and John McGarrity, “Britain Doubles North England Shale Ggas Estimate,” Reuters, June 27, 2013, http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/06/27/uk-britain-shale-resources-idUKBRE95Q0CD20130627.
31. World Bank data, “Estimated Flared Volumes from Satellite Data, 2007–2011, http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTOGMC/EXTGGFR/0,,contentMDK:22137498~menuPK:3077311~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:578069,00.html#1.
32. Russia is flaring 37.4 billion cubic meters per year, or about 3.6 billion cubic feet per day that’s nearly equal to France’s 2011 consumption of 4 Bcf/d. See: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
33. Penn Energy, “NIOC Aims to Cut Natural Gas Flaring in Iran,” October 7, 2013, http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2013/10/nioc-aims-to-cut-natural-gas-flaring-in-iran.html. In 2011, Belgium was consuming 1.6 Bcf/d.
34. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013. Vietnam used about 0.8 Bcf/d in 2011. The US flared 7.1 billion cubic meters in 2011, which works out to almost 0.7 Bcf/d.
35. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
36. Tamsin Carlisle, “Trying to End Iraq’s Wasteful Natural Gas Flaring,” Platts Oil-gram News, June 17, 2013, http://blogs.platts.com/2013/06/17/iraq-flare/?sf426329=1.
37. Ryan Salmon and Andrew Logan, “Flaring Up: North Dakota Natural Gas Flaring More than Doubles in Two Years,” Ceres, July 2013, https://www.ceres.org/resources/reports/flaring-up-north-dakota-natural-gas-flaring-more-than-doubles-in-two-years, 5.
38. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
Notes to Chapter 22
1. Http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/147814-the-nuclear-power-vendetta-or-the-greatest-environmentalist-hypocrisy-of-all-time/3.
2. Estimate from William Horak, chairman of Brookhaven National Laboratory’s nuclear science and technology department. For more on Horak, see: http://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=11183.
3. For generation capacity, see: http://www.entergy-nuclear.com/plant_information/indian_point.aspx. F
or percent of electricity, see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/nyregion/17towns.html.
4. According to the NRDC (http://www.nrdc.org/nuclear/indianpoint/files/NRDC-1336_Indian_Point_FSr8medium.pdf), Indian Point covers 239 acres. At 4046 square meters per acre, the plant covers 971,246 square meters. Dividing 2.069 billion watts by that area yields 2130 W/m2.
5. To get 2.069 billion watts with wind turbines, you’d need 2 billion square meters, which is 772 square miles. Rhode Island covers 1,045 square miles. See: RI.gov data, http://sos.ri.gov/library/history/facts/.
6. World Nuclear Association data, http://world-nuclear.org/info/Facts-and-Figures/Heat-values-of-various-fuels/#.Ud3sIz54ZDs.
7. EIA data, http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=5250.
8. EIA data on power plant capital costs, April 2013, http://www.eia.gov/forecasts/capitalcost/pdf/updated_capcost.pdf, 6.
9. Author interview with project managers from MEAG Power, one of the entities investing in the Vogtle project.
10. DK Eyewitness Books, Oil: Discover the Story of Petroleum, and the Many Ways It Shapes the World We Live In, New York: DK Publishing, 2007, 67–68.
11. Http://books.google.com/books?id=dknlH_8XRRwC&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=poland+oil+lamps+and+carpathian+mountains&source=bl&ots=mp9E7dV6Vo&sig=dYPmf5SIi3alFTYiBBsjFsLSnWQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NR_oUa35Aoj7rAHEgYHIDA&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=poland%20oil%20lamps%20and%20carpathian%20mountains&f=false.
12. San Joaquin Valley Geology, “The History of the Oil Industry,” undated, http://www.sjvgeology.org/history/index.html.
13. Vaclav Smil, Energies: An Illustrated Guide to the Biosphere and Civilization (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999), 123.
14. SEIA.org, http://www.seia.org/policy/solar-technology/photovoltaic-solar-electric.
15. About.com, http://archaeology.about.com/od/ancientdailylife/qt/fire_control.htm.
16. Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission data, http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/history/4569/it_happened_here/471309.
17. Paul Brown, “First Nuclear Power Plant to Close,” Guardian, March 21, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2003/mar/21/nuclear.world.
18. Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shippingport_Reactor.
19. Greenpeace.org, http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/campaigns/nuclear/.
20. Sarah Fecht, “One Year Later: A Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Timeline,” Scientific American, March 8, 2012, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=one-year-later-fukushima-nuclear-disaster.
21. Reuters, “Insight: Japan’s ‘Long War’ to Shut Down Fukushima,” March 8, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-japan-fukushima-idUSBRE92417Y20130308.
22. Mark Holt, Richard Campbell, and Mary Beth Nikitin, “Fukushima Nuclear Disaster,” Congressional Research Service, January 18, 2012, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R41694.pdf, 1. See also, Beyondnuclear.org, http://www.beyondnuclear.org/home/2011/8/2/two-fukushima-daiichi-workers-drowned-by-tsunami-had-been-or.html.
23. World Health Organization, “Health Risk Assessment from the Nuclear Accident After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami,” February 2013, http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/78218/1/9789241505130_eng.pdf.
24. The Australian, “No Fukushima Radiation Problems: Report,” June 1, 2013, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/latest-news/no-radiation-problems-from-fukushima-rep/story-fn3dxix6–1226654915469.
25. Hiroko Tabuchi, “Nuclear Operator Raises Alarm on Crisis,” New York Times, August 23, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/asia/nuclear-operator-raises-alarm-on-crisis.html?_r=0.
26. Reuters, “Insight: Japan’s ‘Long War’ to Shut Down Fukushima,” March 8, 2013, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/08/us-japan-fukushima-idUSBRE92417Y2013030.
27. Miles Doran, “Japan Earthquake: How Big Was It?” CBSnews.com, March 11, 2011, http://www.cbsnews.com/8301–503543_162–20042270–503543/japan-earthquake-how-big-was-it-/.
28. Alan Buis, “Japan Quake May Have Shortened Earth Days, Moved Axis,” NASA.gov, March 14, 2011, http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/japanquake/earth20110314.html.
29. National Police Agency of Japan data, June 9, 2013, http://www.npa.go.jp/archive/keibi/biki/higaijokyo_e.pdf.
30. George Monbiot, “Why Fukushima Made Me Stop Worrying and Love nuclear Power,” Guardian, March 21, 2011, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/21/pro-nuclear-japan-fukushima.
31. Kevin Bullis, “Safer Nuclear Power, at Half the Price,” Technology Review, March 12, 2013, http://www.technologyreview.com/news/512321/safer-nuclear-power-at-half-the-price/.
32. For more, see http://transatomicpower.com/.
33. Bullis, op. cit.
34. Leslie Dewan from Transatomic Power, speaking at TEDx New England, November 1, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=AAFWeIp8JT0#at=779.
35. Wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experimental_Breeder_Reactor_II.
36. GE-energy.com, http://www.ge-energy.com/products_and_services/products/nuclear_energy/prism_sodium_cooled_reactor.jsp.
37. Tim Dean, “New Age Nuclear,” Cosmos, April 2006, http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/348/full.
38. LightBridge presentation data January 18, 2013, http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/AMDA-16UEEM/2574200371x0x630146/c6267fc1-e0ab-4281-b8a8–40c3e30df1d6/Lightbridge+-+MNA+Symposium_Public.pdf.
39. GoogleFinance data, https://www.google.com/finance?q=ltbr&ed=us&ei=fpLcUejiNceTqQGg2AE.
40. MarketWatch, “Bill Gates Invests $35 Million in TerraPower’s Nuclear Effort,” May 25, 2010, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/bill-gates-invests-35-mil_n_615812.html.
41. Terrapower.com data, http://terrapower.com/people/nathan-myhrvold.
42. Terrapower.com data, http://terrapower.com/pages/traveling-wave-reactor.
43. For more, see: http://robertstoneproductions.com/pandoras-promise/.
44. Jessica Lovering, Ted Nordhaus, and Michael Shellenberger, “Out of the Nuclear Closet: Why It’s Time for Environmentalists to Stop Worrying and Love the Atom,” Foreign Policy, September 7, 2012, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/07/out_of_the_nuclear_closet?page=full.
45. Ted Nordhaus, Jessica Lovering, and Michael Shellenberger, “How to Make Nuclear Cheap: Safety, Readiness, Modularity, and Efficiency,” Breakthrough Institute, July 9, 2013, http://thebreakthrough.org/index.php/programs/energy-and-climate/how-to-make-nuclear-cheap/, 21.
46. Ibid., 58.
47. The Acheson-Lilienthal Report, March 16, 1946.
48. IAEA data, http://www.iaea.org/About/index.html.
49. Government Accountability Office, “Nuclear Nonproliferation: IAEA Has Made Progress in Implementing Critical Programs but Continues to Face Challenges,” May 2013, http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/654714.pdf, 7.
50. USgovernmentspending.com, http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/spending_chart_2001_2018USr_14s1li111mcn_.30t.
51. Richard K. Lester, “Nuclear Governance and Nuclear Innovation After Fukushima,” MIT.edu, October 22, 2011, http://web.mit.edu/nse/lester/media/GNES_Talk.pdf.
52. 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/.
53. In 2000, Iran’s electricity use was 119 terawatt-hours. In 2012, it was 251 TWh. See: BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
54. BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2013.
55. Federation of American Scientists, “Status of World Nuclear Forces,” undated, http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/nukes/nuclearweapons/nukestatus.html.
56. Jeff McMahon, “U.S. Runs Out of Nuclear Fuel from Russian Warheads,” Forbes, June 30, 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/06/30/u-s-runs-out-of-nuclear-fuel-from-russian-warheads/.
Notes to Chapter 23
1. Http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/blog/2012/09/smallest-electric-vehicle-boosted.html.
2. US Census
Bureau data from 2008, see: http://www.census.gov/econ/smallbus.html.
3. A poll done in France found that for people under the age of thirty, some 70 percent “yearned for risk-free careers as government officials.” See: Pascal Bruckner, The Fanaticism of the Apocalypse, (Malden, MA: Polity, 2013), 66.
4. For an excellent essay on this term, see Mike Lofgren, “American Exceptionalism: Alibi of a Nation,” TruthOut, June 11, 2013, http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/16878-american-exceptionalism-alibi-of-a-nation. Lofgren says that the line “is simply the cover story and alibi for the extraordinary levels of violence that the United States has been exporting for decades.”
5. USdebtclock.org, current as of June 2013.
6. Costofwar.org.
7. Government Accountability Office, “Financial Audit: US Government’s Fiscal Years 2012 and 2011 Consolidated Financial Statements,” January 13, 2013, http://www.gao.gov/assets/660/651357.pdf.
8. Brad Plumer, “America’s Staggering Defense Budget, in Charts,” Washington Post, January 7, 2013, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/07/everything-chuck-hagel-needs-to-know-about-the-defense-budget-in-charts/.
9. Peter Huber, “Digital Innovators vs. the Patent Trolls,” Wall Street Journal, April 18, 2011.
10. Roy Strom, “Wi-Fi Case Sheds Light on Patent Trolls,” Chicago Lawyer, April 1, 2013, http://chicagolawyermagazine.com/Archives/2013/04/Innovation-Patent-Trolls.aspx.
11. Alex Tabarrok, Launching the Innovation Renaissance (New York: TED Conferences, 2011).
12. Stephanie Simon, “US Spends Big on Education, but Results Lag Many Nations: OECD,” June 25, 2013, Reuters, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/25/us-usa-education-oecd-idUSBRE95O0CN20130625.
13. CIA data, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2078rank.html.
14. Will Englund, “Teens Choosing Death in Russia,” Washington Post, March 7, 2012, http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012–03–07/world/35449709_1_nastya-suicide-russian-teenagers.
15. Lyudmilla Alexandrova, “Russia’s Child, Teenage Suicide Rates Highest in Europe,” Indrus.in, March 16, 2013, http://indrus.in/society/2013/03/16/russias_child_teenage_suicide_rates_highest_in_europe_22979.html.