On Thu, 29 Nov 2018 10:59:39 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
wrote:

On Thursday, November 29, 2018 at 4:42:29 AM UTC-7, Martin Brown wrote:
In the USA it has become a party
political issue where Republicans think that trashing the planet for
short term profit is OK.

That may well be, but the only way to quickly make progress on stopping global
warming is to avoid making it a divisive political issue.

Instead, it needs to be something everyone can agree on. Hence, I think our best
hope is nuclear power: abundant energy in unlimited quantities for a strong and prosperous America!

Nuclear isn't going to happen. It's too politically unpopular, too
expensive, too problematic in terms of the damage incurred both by
mining uranium and storing waste. And it's too dangerous in the sense
that while the actual risks are low, a single serious accident is
devastating at the level of national economies (witness Fukushima).
There's a reason that nuclear plants are being shut down around the
world faster than new ones are coming on line. A trend that is very
unlikely to change.

For a fraction of the price we can greatly expand renewables. That's
technology that is moving ahead very quickly. In ten years we'll have
PV panels so cheap they're basically free, and we'll have robust
storage systems. In 20 years we'll be producing hydrocarbon and
alcohol liquid fuels directly from sunlight.

It takes 10-20 years to permit, fund, and construct a single nuclear
power plant. And that's if there's the political will to allow it,
which there isn't.