(Director, Rocky Mountain Institute) speaking at Commonwealth Club - on NPR. One of the most cohesive, relaxed speakers on complex topics I can recall. Maybe rebroadcast in your area, unless replaced by Lawrence Welk (?)

Gave a brilliant analysis of the factors leading to CA energy woes (and the nature of the political and business idiocy involved). Dunno if the text is at the commonwealthclub site. Reitereated what we all know here: that CA has near the lowest per-capita energy usage of any state. Explained how our Repo governor tried to fix something that wasn't broke.. and got sukered: also by ignorance of er "how the market works" (Lovins Likes.. [real] free market forces, generally.) He mentioned some also unprecedented improvements in CA energy conservation -- just since the massacre + reasons why these and more, may be sustained.

Dispensed with a Q, "are nukes safe?" by recalling the Price-Anderson bill (due to expire in '02), its cap of $9B MAX - for any catastrophe -- referred to the 'experts in risk': insurance co.s, none of which will touch a policy on a nuclear plant with an 11 M pole. Then pointed out 3 renewable technologies already more efficient (and improving) plus two more ascending:

off-shore windmills (better winds there often, not expensive to locate there, no noise or property needed) and... fuel cells. Coming..

One of existing three:
Via annual lo-bid contracts for the cells, Sacramento Power has brought down photovoltaic costs nearer to 5\ufffd/KWHr; they're getting better and cheaper - as Sacto. just adds more each year. (They closed down a financially-disastrous nuke >10 years ago at SMUD.. lots of gnashing of teeth on That one).

Lovins mentioned his energy costs ($5/mo.) for 4000 ft\ufffd + additional water, hot-water savings -- using 1986 technology: all cheaper and better today. His orig. cost was amortized in 10 months (of course he's also decidedly more ept than your normal engineer).

In brief:

You don't want a nuke under any conceivable *circumstances: it's dead and only subsidy keeps the present plants running. It's a great future idea whose time has passed, per L.

* less'n you have other motives like say, mixing up yer own batch of toxins for er political purposes?

So dream of: funny purple-looking thingies glued on yer roof, not ugly concrete things in basement, with radiation symbols on the side.


A.

Have a handy number for the decommissioning costs for each one? (yada yada). Each one everywhere, that is. I haven't heard lately what their unsubsidized cost /KWHr is, as an average since construction: it almost has to be ugly, except when the books are cooked (as here too).

Dunno about you, but I've been staring at the 'chart of the nuclides' sometimes daily, for a few decades; last I heard, the physics hasn't changed. Lovins et al are right - they're dead as an energy source in any next. The better technologies are here and improving with each large order (which produces further economies of scale).

(Unless of course, decisions next are made religiously - as so often occurs) ??


A.