Heed the prophecies of the IEA

The International Energy Agency, no surprise, has indicated that the world's energy future had better start heading toward nuclear and renewables, particularly NUCLEAR, or there will be problems.

IEA report advises nations to embrace renewables and nuclear

"The grim reality for environmentalists is that no single renewable energy resource, from wind power to solar energy through biofuels, has remotely become competitive with  kilowatt hours of electrical energy generated by coal or oil-fired power plants. The debate pits those opposed to a transition to greener technologies to those considering  the bottom line, despite greenhouse gas emissions.

Even worse for the environmentalists, the IEA report advocates that as a short-term solution, governments ought to reconsider nuclear power, as it produces zero CO2 emissions.

Projecting into the future the report notes, "A low-nuclear future would also boost demand for fossil fuels: the increase in global coal demand is equal to twice the level of Australia's current steam coal exports and the rise in gas demand is  equivalent to two-thirds of Russia's current natural gas exports."

WHICH is why I am so steamed/peeved/frustrated by climate change skeptics. Were the urgency of climate change properly recognized, the logical path forward (which surprisingly is being recognized by oil-rich Middle East countries who are financing their future with oil money to build NUCLEAR REACTORS), then the nuclear industry would be seen as the way forward for security and civilization.  The Fukushima disaster only made things worse, forcing otherwise level-headed countries like Switzerland to back away from nuclear.  As their glaciers melt faster and faster, they may rethink that stance, but by then it may be too late.  The IEA report should be heeded as prudent and reflective of the actual situation, and we collectively as individuals and countries will ignore it our peril, and particularly the peril to future human generations and the increasingly fragile remnants of the natural environment.


More about the warming aspect:

"The second consideration is the contentious issue of global warming, and the  impact of traditional fossil fuel-fired power plants belching vast amounts of  CO2 into the atmosphere.

While even the most diehard proponents of traditional power plant electrical  generation to not deny that their facilities emit significant amounts of  carbon dioxide, they denigrate the concerns of environmentalists as 'fuzzy science."

So, at the end of the day, the two fundamental issues facing the world's nations  seeking to satiate their population's demand for reliable and inexpensive power  devolve down to cost and scientific projections."