coal for energy

so, i've heard George Bush wants to use coal for energy as soon as he can. He also wants to start having Nuclear Power Plants again. (we did stop using them, correct?) COAL! COAL! COME ON! he says "technology is the future" but he's using coal! so, are we going forward or backwards. he says he's going to use more "enviromentally conscious ways" but he says he's using coal and nuclear power! doesnt that contradict itself? isnt coal HORRIBLE for the environmet? and how is he plannig on getting this coal, coal mines? mines that killed most people who went in them? oh god, i hate this fucking president

 

Yea, I couldnt believe this. He says we as a country need to get away from our need of fossil fuels, then he turns around and ask congress for 2 billion dollars over the next tens years for coal???

 

I agree it's ridiculous that he wants to invest more money in coal research. Nuclear power, however, is very environmentally-friendly. It's clean, efficient, and relatively safe.

 

A lot of the research into coal is to convert it to oil and other petroleum products rather than burn straight coal. The US has enormous coal reserves and efficiently converting these reserves into forms which could be used for oil and gasoline could eliminate the need to rely on foreign oil. As China, India and other third world countires become more industrialized, the increased demand on existing reserves could drive the price of a barrel of oil to unbelievable levels (I've heard talk of 100$/barrel within 3 years). The US never did stop using nuclear power, but no new plants are being built, and I believe existing licenses are not always being renewed. The US is way behind the curve on nuclear power; in Europe it makes up almost half of the energy supplt in some countries.

 

Neuc. power can be clean (when you look at the damage per KWhr), but (big but) neuc. power plants are ultimatly run by people who are more interested in making money than in electricity or safety.

That reality, plus the very very nasty results of accidents, make neuc a poor choice.

Increased energy efficiancy in our lifestyles is ultimatly the answer.

 

Final answer in energy: NOTHING IS WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES. Nuclear power doesn't generate much air pollution, but there are massive problems involving the disposal of the harmful waste. What do we do with it? Can't bury it, burn it, or dump it in the ocean? Send it to space? We've all see the Futurama episode, I'm sure. Then there's the obvious problem of the danger of having accidents. Coal...well, air pollution notwithstanding, there's, like RainbowCat mentioned above, the working conditions in mines and the fact that we can't rely permanently on fossil fuels because WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF THEM! Ultimately, the best solution would be something like solar power, but that takes up land space, as do windmills, and hydroelectric dams cause their own problems with flooding and disruption of fish migration and mating habits. What else is there? Burning wood? No. Gas? No.

Energy efficiency would be what needs to be looked at. The energy efficiency of your average lightbulb is awful. Only 5% of the energy used for the lightbulb is converted to light energy. Theother 95% is converted to unusable heat energy that is dispersed and lost forever.

 

PEople running nuclear plants of course would be concerned foremost with profit, but as INSANELY PARANOID as the general public is about the safety of it, there would obviously be extremely strict regulations and such, not to mention the technology has greatly improved, and the waste can be recycled and used again.. Of course eventually it must be stored somewhere.. Really, fission is the only feasible solution, until fusion is mastered.

 

Use fluourescents whenever possible. Those drop-in replacement for incandescents are about four times as efficient. Some of the lamp manufacturers in Europe have been researching high pressure incandescent bulbs that operate at higher temperature and greater efficiency.

There was a time when the federal government used to run public service announcements encouraging people to conserve energy, such as using fluourescents, keeping your tires properly inflated, carpooling, turning down your thermostat, driving smaller cars. Those efforts ended by the early 80s.

The past two decades there's been almost no effort on the part of the federal government to ask people to conserve. It's almost as if it's below the dignity of the government to encourage people to conserve, as if it's un-American. Up till now, Bush has said that conservation is a 'personal decision' that each American has to make for himself. Only in the past few weeks has he seemed to start showing a concern for the energy problem.

Conservations is something that could produce an immediate relief to the current energy crunch. It only takes a change in attitude and behavior to save a significant amount of energy right now. Most of the proposals Bush has made so far are longterm remedies that will take at least ten years to implement. One shouldn't expect any short-term relief.
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The waste can be recycled? Since when?

 

there's this place by my house, and people, (including my dad, who is a soil engineer) say that they have buried nucler waste there. i also live right by a power plant. i wonder how bad it is for me?

 

the waste can be converted into plutonium for bombs or use in another reactor.

 

really? bombs huh? THAT DOESNT MAKE ANYTHING BETTER! if anything, thats worse,

 

Oh, definitely. I mean, America is definitely running short on bombs And all those other countries that want bombs definitely should be given them. But seriously...is there any helpful way of getting rid of the waste?

 

Nuclear power is NOT safe!Please do some research.I don't want to become a mutant because of Bush.
~No Nukes are good nukes

 

Yeah. we take all the world oil, then coal, then wood, and maybe when we are done with wood God will give use more coal and oil...

Its called Faith Based Ecology.

 

lol...well, the faith-based everything-else seems to be working

 

lol faith based ecology works for me...

Have a glass of water, pray you don't die....

Im not dead yet, am I? IT WORKS!

 

whoa newski...as of this point in time, you and I have the exact same number of posts. Won't for long though...

Anyways, faith-based thought is what the bible is based on. What kind of fundies would they be if they didn't even do that?

 

Yeah.... So it is my duty to mock them.... Hang on, Im going to post in the appropriate forum the Newski Dictionary. Also, perhaps, how to date a republican (for guys)

 

I think it's you who needs to do some research if you think nuclear power is going to turn you into a mutant.