Poll: Energy

[Edible Avatar]

China and India are building Nuclear Power plants, but the US isn't and probably never will, nor will many other countries who either are scared of it, or don't have the technical expertise to build them.

Actually, America is probably leading the industry in Nuclear energy (France might be ahead).
And we actually build alot of Nuclear plants to supplement our energy consumpion, for example, here is the power consumption graph, (2009,US govt.)

Spoiler

Finally, the public is actually open to nuclear power, and new methods of safely storing (and even reusing!) nuclear waste is currently being implimented (info obtained from National Geographic).

 

[rayen020]

okay we need to do the high tech tax incentives, then we get fusion power plants in 2015 an- oh wait, we aren't playing simcity 3000...

still i think solar will largely replace fossil fuels sometime in the next ten years. wind energy just isn't cost effective, and geothermal/hydro need certain terrain and geographical features which just aren't widespread enough for common use. and biofuels which would solve the fossil fuels problem don't really solve the problem which they causing (i.e. greenhouse effect, climate change, global warming, etc. etc.). Nuclear is pretty common already it's just not putting out enough energy for a long enough time to make up for the waste and pollution it causes.

Solar is where it's at right now though. Solar panels are getting more and more complex and oddly cheaper and cheaper. seriously the governments of the world needs to get every household to just put a solar panel on their roof and alot of power problems would virtually disappear. really interesting stuff happening in that field.

Actually, America is probably leading the industry in Nuclear energy (France might be ahead).
And we actually build alot of Nuclear plants to supplement our energy consumption.

Actually Sweden is the leader in nuclear power plants. they have the most of any country and might have the most advanced (as you said France may hold that honor...)

 

[Edible Avatar]

Solar is where it's at right now though. Solar panels are getting more and more complex and oddly cheaper and cheaper. seriously the governments of the world needs to get every household to just put a solar panel on their roof and alot of power problems would virtually disappear. really interesting stuff happening in that field.

Where i live, it snows half of the year (and rains a 1/3 of the time in the summer), so solar is out of the question; But there has been some success with wind turbines here.

 

[goodman528]

I hope the oil and gas industry never goes down, cos I'm hoping to get a career in it. There is still a lot of money in the oil industry.

 

[isometry]

I disagree with the anthropic global warming hypothesis, but I agree that we need to transition away from fossil fuels eventually because of the finite supply.

I don't think subsidizing economically inefficient solar panels is acceptable, that money should go to research to future solar panels that will be economically viable.

Nuclear fission is economically viable, but for someone who doesn't think human use of fossil fuels can cause the kind of disasters in Al Gore's movie, nuclear waste and coal/oil pollution are comparable, so I don't see a major incentive to build fission plants.

Replacing fossil fuels with solar and nuclear fusion will take many technological advances in materials science and physics. We need to fund these technologies with public money, but not just focusing on the narrow short term goals like building prototype reactors and cells, but also on fundamental technologies and science.

 

[Vausch]

I think that we shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. Instead we should look into a bit of everything.

Wind Energy is my primary choice. Living in the middle of the country I see a lot of wind farms that feed off of the trade winds and the gulf. This is a near constant source of renewable energy with very few drawbacks.

Nuclear Energy is consistent and when controlled is actually quite safe.

Hydro Energy is fine for rivers, but we should also look into Tidal Energy harnessing the tides and the gulf stream around our coasts. The energy potential is staggering if you actually think about the forces involved.

Solar Energy is superb, but it isn't as consistent as other energy sources. Perfect for California and the High Desert.

Geothermal Energy is also superb in being consistent and you can harness it anywhere literally. I could see a geothermal energy station in every house and out bills would be lower than ever.

Petroleum is a finite resource that is better suited for other purposes than simple energy. The excess burning is a waste and a hazard to the world. Global Warming exists, and I don't want to make this post longer than I need to in order to give my thoughts on it. Lets just say I'd rather run on a clean car and save my petrol for plastic and american cheese than burn it driving to school.

Coal is a horrible idea. There is no such thing as clean coal, and the best it would do is delay the inevitable while destroying the world faster.

Neither geothermal or tidal energy are very good as the brine and sulphur respectively corrodes the metal, meaning that they have to have constant repairs. Wind is also extremely ineffecient as of now...

Aren't there other materials that can be used in place of metal? Synthetics or ceramics that don't rust or break down as easily?

Wind isn't exactly inefficient, I mean 1 windfarm near me with about 120 windmills provides power to 70,000 homes. I guess that's mostly because there's always wind in the area though, a place that doesn't have wind would be a little difficult to work with.