Our New Nuclear Future?

Barack Obama’s victory will certainly result in the government putting more emphasis on alternative energy. Unfortunately, my guess is that this will only result in more subsidies going to special interests to fund unworkable solutions, like ethanol, rather than in making real progress towards solving our challenges with imported oil.

I’ve written here before about the tremendous amount of venture capital that is being poured into Silicon Valley solar energy startups. I’ve also written about the Picken’s Plan to build a corridor of wind turbines in the Great Plains. Ditto with plug-in electric cars, like the Tesla Roadster, and fuel cells. Another part of the solution may be lightweight nuclear power stations.

A company in New Mexico – Hyperion Power Generation – has licensed some technology from Los Alamos National Laboratory to produce small, compact nuclear energy modules that can be transported to locations wherever electricity is needed.

Each energy module is about the size of a hot tub and can supply the electricity needs of 20,000 homes for 7 to 10 years, at a cost of about $150 per home per year.

The modules don't contain any moving parts. The modules produce energy via a safe, natural heat-producing process that occurs with the oscillation of hydrogen in uranium hydride. The modules cannot go “supercritical,” melt down, or get too hot. They maintain a safe operating temperature without the use of cooling rods. Think of them as kind of a big battery.

The modules are sealed in concrete and would be buried underground. Each module would be removed and refueled at original factory every 5 years.

The modules don’t emit any greenhouse gases. The fuel used in the modules cannot be turned into weapons grade material. The amount of waste after 5 years of operation is about the size of a softball.

The modules can be built in a tiny fraction of the time it takes to build a large nuclear plant. The company already has orders and they expect to ship their first product in 2013.

Plug-in electric cars and creation of hydrogen for fuel cells will require the generation of a lot more electricity than we generate today. Solar and wind are important part of the mix, but they can’t fulfill all of our growing needs. Nuclear needs to be part of the solution and this is a game changing technology to provide it.

Let’s hope that Obama’s proposed increase in the capital gains tax won’t dry up investments for this and other innovative solutions to our most pressing problems.

T. Boone Pickens: An Oilman turns to the Wind

Oil magnate T. Boone Pickens has announced a rather intriguing plan for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil by nearly 40% within 10 years.

Many people don’t realize that America’s oil imports increased from 24% of our needs in 1970 to over 70% of our needs today. We send more than $700 billion a year overseas to some rather unsavory characters to support our oil appetite. What’s really scary is that world oil production peaked in 2005 and has fallen over the last three years. Unfortunately, demand for oil is rapidly escalating because the world is adding 2.5 billion people in India, China, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia to the global economy. So, demand for oil is only going to get stronger.

Right now, 22% of America’s electricity needs are generated using natural gas. However, natural gas makes for a better transportation fuel than oil, because it pollutes less, (30% less greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline), costs less, and we have more of it at home. There are already 7 million natural gas vehicles in the world and no technological breakthroughs are required to make this a viable option. If we could divert the natural gas being used to generate electricity to fueling our cars, we could reduce consumption of foreign oil by 38%, and keep $250 billion a year at home to support our own economy.

How do we do this? Pickens’ answer is to replace natural gas with wind power.

Studies have shown that the Great Plains states are home to the greatest wind energy potential in the world. Building wind facilities in the corridor that stretches from the Texas panhandle to North Dakota could produce 20% of the electricity for the United States, allowing the natural gas that is currently used for electricity to be diverted to transportation. We’re already generating about 1% of our electricity using wind and more capacity is coming on-line. Pickens’ himself is building a 4,000 megawatt wind farm in Texas, which is the equivalent of four large coal plants, but without the pollution.

Wind power can also help revitalize rural America, as has already happened in Sweetwater, Texas after a large wind farm was built outside of town.

So, what’s the problem? Yep, you guessed it -- special interests. In this case, coal companies who are working with state legislatures in places like Kansas to muddy the waters. There is also huge potential to generate electricity from wind power off of our Atlanta Coast. Unfortunately, wealthy Americans who fear their views of the sea will be spoiled have colluded with the coal companies to stall many of these efforts.

Although it’s not part of Pickens’ plan, the southwestern part of the U.S. has huge potential for generating power using the sun. Venture capital firms are investing huge sums of money in solar energy technologies. As a result, factories are being built in Silicon Valley for the first time in decades and utilities are building large solar farms in places like California, Arizona, and Nevada.

What’s missing is real political leadership. It’s time to get rid of the politicians who are more interested in protecting the special interests rather than doing what’s right for the future of the country. Otherwise, our future may be one of looking back and reminiscing about “the good old days" when gas was only $4 a gallon.