25 item(s) were returned.
J.C. Ward Jr. Professor of Nuclear Energy Engineering
Cornell University
The premise of Robert Stone’s newly released documentary, Pandora’s Promise, is that despite the scary features of nuclear radiation, nuclear power is the best chance we have to avoid the catastrophe projected from burning fossil fuels to power the growing world economy. The documentary’s approach is rather unique – former anti-nuclear environmentalists describe how and why they became pro-nuclear, in spite of even the recent major Fukushima Daiichi reactor disaster. It is important to add that Director Robert Stone is not arguing that standard “light water reactors” (LWRs) should be pursued, but rather newer designs, such as inherently safe breeder… [more]
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University Distinguished Professor
Michigan State University, Dept. of Chemical Engineering
High energy use (power consumption) increases wealth, health and education levels. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, most energy has come from fossil fuels: coal, oil and natural gas. Whatever the eventual lifetimes of these fossil energy resources, they are not renewable. Sooner or later, fossil energy will not be available to underpin our prosperity. Thus non-renewable energy is not a long-term option. We must have renewable energy if we are to maintain high living standards among advanced economies, and if more people in developing nations are to access enough energy to develop their human potential. But how much… [more]
View InsightA new report – coauthored by researchers from the Brookings Institute, the World Resources Institute, and the Breakthrough Institute – examines the coming decline in subsidies and tax breaks for renewables, and what that decline might mean for the U.S. renewables industry. The report argues that the decline imperils the industry, but suggests that this issue presents an opportunity to reform the subsidies and programs currently in place. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ushered in a brief era of heightened support for the clean tech and renewable energy sectors, providing just over $150 billion through 2014. However,… [more]
View InsightIn a response to a New York Times ‘Room for Debate’ forum on energy efficiency, Cato Institute scholar Peter Van Doren argues that energy efficiency standards are problematic, and that the most effective way to reduce fossil fuel use is to tax fossil fuels to increase their price. Van Doren writes “if fossil fuel combustion produces byproducts that cause negative health effects on third parties as well as changes in the temperature of the atmosphere, the obvious lesson from economics is to increase fossil fuel prices enough through taxation to account for these effects. Then firms and consumers will react… [more]
View InsightNote: Synopsis from report‘s executive summary. Creating a Clean Energy Century: Recapturing the Lead in Clean Tech Innovation By Josh Freed, Sam Hodas, Sarah Collins, and Stephanie Praus While the energy market has always been driven by fossil fuels, it is moving slowly, but inevitably, toward clean energy as countries decide they can no longer tolerate the pollution costs and security risks of conventional energy or the threat of global warming. The great hurdle is making clean energy as cheap as fossil fuels. This will require major breakthroughs. Existing clean energy sources are too expensive and have technical limitations. The… [more]
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