Yesterday, I heard about Arjun Makhijani, who is the founder and President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in DC.
Seems he has written a book on how the US can become 100% Carbon-free & Nuclear-free i.e. completely renewable energy only (wind, solar, etc.)
This is no green hippie having a pipe-dream about how a similar claims but somehow, despite all the things he has said which have come true on the intersection of technology and society, his futuristic claims seem too outlandish and hence are easy to dismiss after reading them with some oh-amazing-stuff curiousity.
No... Makhijani has a PhD in nuclear fusion and has been a renowned figure in leading energy policy discussions for almost 40 years. For some years now, he has been voicing his concerns that nuclear energy is NOT the right alternative to pursue as the US seeks carbon-free energy to deal with the concurrent issues of climate change and foreign oil dependence.
Anyways, you probably have no time to read the 290 page book or the 23 page executive summary ... but maybe these slides or the 4-page summary can be given a quick read through?
P.S. Here's what he thinks about the recent India-US nuclear deal.
P.P.S. Should clarify ... in addition to Makhijani & Kurzweil, many others have made these grandiose claims of solar ruling by 2050, if not 2025 or 2030.
eg: read this Motley Fool article today about a sunny future for solar (Cr*p..will they never tire of such tired old punning in solar news headlines!). It refers to the Scientific American's January 2008 article "A Solar Grand Plan" which discusses a proposal for the U.S. to generate 69% of its electricity and 35% of its total energy from solar power by 2050. To put this in perspective, remember that in spite of the sector's incredible expansion these past few years, solar generates far less than 1% of our energy needs. What's interesting about the Scientific American article is that its authors are conservative in their projections of technological advancement in the sector. They make a point of assuming no further progress in solar technology after the year 2020.
OTOH, Kurzweil says the field of solar energy will advance exponentially, in accordance with his "Law of Accelerating Returns", whereby solar energy efficiency and costs will rise and drop similar to Moore's Law, whereby solar will meet 100% of our energy needs in 20 years!
Seems he has written a book on how the US can become 100% Carbon-free & Nuclear-free i.e. completely renewable energy only (wind, solar, etc.)
This is no green hippie having a pipe-dream about how a similar claims but somehow, despite all the things he has said which have come true on the intersection of technology and society, his futuristic claims seem too outlandish and hence are easy to dismiss after reading them with some oh-amazing-stuff curiousity.
No... Makhijani has a PhD in nuclear fusion and has been a renowned figure in leading energy policy discussions for almost 40 years. For some years now, he has been voicing his concerns that nuclear energy is NOT the right alternative to pursue as the US seeks carbon-free energy to deal with the concurrent issues of climate change and foreign oil dependence.
Arjun Makhijani, President of IEER, holds a Ph.D. in engineering (specialization: nuclear fusion) from the University of California at Berkeley. He has produced many studies and articles on nuclear fuel cycle related issues, including weapons production, testing, and nuclear waste, over the past twenty years. He is the principal author of the first study ever done (completed in 1971) on energy conservation potential in the U.S. economy.
Anyways, you probably have no time to read the 290 page book or the 23 page executive summary ... but maybe these slides or the 4-page summary can be given a quick read through?
P.S. Here's what he thinks about the recent India-US nuclear deal.
P.P.S. Should clarify ... in addition to Makhijani & Kurzweil, many others have made these grandiose claims of solar ruling by 2050, if not 2025 or 2030.
eg: read this Motley Fool article today about a sunny future for solar (Cr*p..will they never tire of such tired old punning in solar news headlines!). It refers to the Scientific American's January 2008 article "A Solar Grand Plan" which discusses a proposal for the U.S. to generate 69% of its electricity and 35% of its total energy from solar power by 2050. To put this in perspective, remember that in spite of the sector's incredible expansion these past few years, solar generates far less than 1% of our energy needs. What's interesting about the Scientific American article is that its authors are conservative in their projections of technological advancement in the sector. They make a point of assuming no further progress in solar technology after the year 2020.
OTOH, Kurzweil says the field of solar energy will advance exponentially, in accordance with his "Law of Accelerating Returns", whereby solar energy efficiency and costs will rise and drop similar to Moore's Law, whereby solar will meet 100% of our energy needs in 20 years!
0 comments:
Post a Comment