Flower Power

(Jeff Neumann, The Denver Post )

Today’s Denver Post features my piece on nuclear energy. I interviewed Dr. Patrick Moore, one of the founders of Greenpeace, a well-known advocate of nuclear power. In addition, I refer to Gwyneth Cravens’ excellent new book, “Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy.”

I also wonder about the oft-used but completely nebulous promise of “energy independence.” Nearly every presidential candidate throws this phrase out there — Rudy compares it to going to the moon — without any specificity (what’s new, right?). How long will it take to become energy independent and, ultimately, what will we be independent from? “Energy”? Oil? Mexico and Norway?

The new federal energy bill, for instance, requires the United States to produce 36 billion gallons of biofuels yearly by 2022. As Robert Bryce, author of the forthcoming book “Gusher of Lies: The Dangerous Delusions of Energy Independence,” points out: “That sounds like a lot of fuel, but put it in perspective: The United States uses more than 320 billion gallons of oil per year, of which nearly 200 billion gallons are imported.” That number is likely to grow. So even if we hit all the right notes, “energy independence” — whatever that means, exactly — is a long way off.

Yet a new nuclear reactor hasn’t gone on-line in the United States in more than 20 years. France operates 59 nuclear reactors, which supply 78 percent of that nation’s electric energy needs. (No wonder those guys embrace carbon trading pyramid schemes.) England has just unveiled plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants. Countries from Japan to Thailand are also turning to more nuclear power. Even China — where officials worry about carbon footprints at roughly the same level they do human rights — will build 32 new nuclear plants by 2020 and an estimated 300 more by 2050.

The rest is here.