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Sisu West Ranch wrote:
> I still think our best bet is to go nuclear, continue research into 
> hydrogen fusion (translate: decades away).  As has been pointed out 
> this frees petroleum for other uses, and would be a basis to 
> eventually (a number of decades away) change to using hydrogen gas for 
> non electric  energy.
Nuclear fission which is what we use in our power plants produce energy 
by releasing it energy stored in the strong nuclear force by breaking 
large atoms uranium or plutonium into smaller atoms 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission. A lot of free neutrons are 
running around as are gamma rays and heavy metals (results from the 
reaction).

The greatest source of energy we have - the stars including our sun - 
are nothing but a big nuclear fusion reaction. Fusion  releases the 
energy stored in the strong nuclear force in the nucleus of the atom by 
forcing two smaller atoms into a larger atom (hydrogen to helium in the 
case of the sun).  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion The only 
byproduct is helium. After WWII it the US had a research program 
exploring the development of "clean nuclear energy" as fusion was known. 
The man you brought you the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, assured 
then President Eisenhower that fission was clean, it was safe to test it 
in the air, it could be used to get rid of hurricanes, etc. There was an 
seemingly unlimited supply of oil from for friends in the Middle East 
and Eisenhower killed the US funded effort into fusion.

That decision is probably the one of the biggest mistakes made in this 
country in the 20th century.
> In the '50's, before the green revolution pushed starvation in the 3rd 
> world (presumably we are the first world, but who is the second 
> world?) away from public attention, the prophets of doom targeted 
> population growth.  This still is an eventual disaster, and it impacts 
> energy problems.  For example, if the USA had the same population it 
> had in 1900 (~100 million if memory serves) pollution, resources, oil, 
> coal etc. would not be anywhere near as pressing a concern.
This was one time they were correct. We are not too far off taxing the 
limits of the planet.

Truman

--

“It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how 
smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong” Richard 
Feynman, Nobel Laureate in Physics


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