Nuclear Energy Is Not Inexpensive
Linked below is a strange little article sent to me by frequent commenter Tim Kingston, who notes: “Thought this might interest you. The energy universe can be complex. Sometimes there no easy choices.” The article’s point is that the world of electricity without nuclear is, in a word, expensive.
Thanks, Tim. What you say is true: the world of energy requires us to make tough choices. But the concept that nuclear is inexpensive is completely erroneous.
The actual cost of building these plants is almost never anywhere near the projected budget. Readers may want to Google “nuclear plant cost overrun,” and read a few of the 312,000 articles they’ll find on the subject. Here’s one that refers to a certain nuclear project as “satanic,” based on the actual amount of the overrun ($6.66 billion). The Florida utility, FPL Group, now estimates the cost of building a new nuclear power plant at over $9 billion, nearly double their previous estimate.
We need to also keep in mind that the nuclear industry and its lobbies have carefully confused us about the costs of shipping and storing nuclear waste, which remains dangerous for as long as one million years.
There is an assumption that buying a green, low emissions or even an electric car produces the lightest carbon footprint. But studies reveal that the manufacture of all cars, even green or electric ones makes up a huge chunk of their total emissions and that keeping and caring for the same car for decades instead of buying new is often the more sustainable route.
I like a good Labor Day weekend barbecue as much as the next guy, but I’m also very fond of remaining productive – which is why I’m happy to be able to meet my colleague Jim Greenberg, Chief Marketing Officer of Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation for dinner tonight while he happens to be out on the West Coast. We’ll be meeting at one of my favorite restaurants, 
Profound thanks to Iban Etxeberria, Rebecca McKenzie, and Chelsea Dowell for their fantastic contributions to 2GreenEnergy and its sister site 
For 25 years, I made my living as a marketing consultant to the Fortune-sized tech and industrial companies: IBM, HP, FedEx, Sony, etc. My company, Mueller/Shields, had a few defining characteristics in its approach that we tried to make a part of our brand, one of which was developing a profound understanding of the “hot buttons” of the customer base. What caused people to be interested in a certain subject? What were their aspirations? Their fears? Their unmet needs?
According to the 
I’m excited to have been hired by 
Senior energy analyst Glenn Doty (see 
One of our interns who spent the summer working on our companion site 
It’s the birthday of British philosopher John Locke, whose concepts of Natural Law and Natural Rights served as an underpinning to the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Locke believed that all people are endowed with rights to life, liberty, and property, and that the only valid use of government is to ensure that these rights are not violated.
