nuclear undone
  • blog
  • about
  • contact

undo your thinking

listen to the facts

absorb new ideas

3 New Years Resolutions for the Energy Community

1/2/2017

2 Comments

 
Last year I wrote about how 2016 could be the year for nuclear energy, in terms of finally being accepted as a clean energy. While we've crossed some important hurdles and made even more progress in 2016, there is still a lot of work to do.

These resolutions are for environmentalists, ecomodernists, climate change denialists, futurists, and whatever other -ist you might be. The fact is that the modern world relies on energy - and we need to be smarter about it.
Picture
1. Work together
All of the "ists" mentioned above want the same thing, to prosper as a society now and in the future.  We have many different ideas on how to do this, and we all have an agenda that we want to further. We should each keep working on our projects, innovations, and policies, but we need to be open to the ideas of others. Solutions to abundant, economic, and sustainable energy will involved renewables, and nuclear, and yes, even fossil fuels - not to mention anything else we come up with in the meantime: hydrogen fuel, mass energy storage, fusion, etc. Fighting against each other is not helping us reach our goals. The best solutions to big problems come from people working together, so let's put that into practice.

2. Take Responsibility
There are many reasons why we shouldn't take our natural resources for granted. They will not last forever and we may destroy our environment. I believe that we can prosper as a society without compromising our planet. But governments, companies, and consumers need to take responsibility for taking progressive action. Right now, we penalize those that abuse the environment. But when people can take responsibility for a common cause, as many companies and consumers are already doing, then we come up with better and more economic solutions. Instead of penalizing, let's reward those that are taking responsibility and leadership to conserve our natural environment.

3. Invest in Innovation
From fire to coal to gas, fossil fuels have allowed us to grow and prosper and modern society is still very much dependent on them. But it's time to upgrade the energy system to technologies that are more advanced and abundant. Science fiction stories always have some sort of "unlimited" energy source. Well, we have the technology to this; it doesn't have to be fiction. We were able to develop nuclear weapons in a matter of months (a bad thing but an amazing story nonetheless) and get a man on the moon - before computers or the ability to bring masses of global minds together. With some drive and commitment, the impossible becomes possible. And hopefully it doesn't take a war or an energy crisis to motivate us to innovate.

Let's make 2017 about moving past our differences, using our resources responsibly and investing in the future of energy. This way, we can all win.
 
Also, don't forget to vote for my video in the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week blogging contest! To vote, just rate it using the stars on the bottom of the post.
2 Comments
Elsa Charles
1/2/2017 03:15:59 pm

Great job spreading the word about the clean benefits of nuclear power. Keep up the good work!

Reply
False Progress link
1/2/2020 01:00:04 am

I'd be more supportive of the "work together" theme if industrial wind power wasn't so prominent in it. It's literally a huge eco-blunder, attempting to save civilization from its fossil fuel roots while creating unprecedented visual sprawl and killing species (like bats) that other industries barely touch.

The notion that Big Wind can solve global warming is used as an excuse for its growing blight and wildlife carnage. They claim "future deaths will be prevented" as if the losses now are trivial. And environmentalists are now calling scenery preservation NIMBYism. They've ditched their original purpose in a panic over carbon, just to be seen as "doing something." Slapping a Green label on massive industrial sprawl doesn't change what it is.

Many don't seem to care that CO2 has risen to over 415 ppm with over 355,000 wind turbines on the planet. How much more scenery and wildlife loss will be justified as it grows tenfold or more? Nothing in the history of energy production has produced such extreme blight over widely disparate landscapes. At least miners and drillers don't preach environmentalism as they strip nature of its remaining aesthetic value.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013

    Categories

    All
    American Nuclear Society
    Climate Change
    Diversity In Stem
    Energy
    Environmentalists
    Fuel Cycle
    I'm A Nuke
    International
    IYNC
    Navy
    Nonproliferation
    Nuclear Energy
    Nuclear Energy
    Nuclear Engineers
    Nuclear Technology
    Policy
    Radiation
    Reactors
    Science Education
    Sustainability
    UAE
    Women In Engineering

    RSS Feed


    Follow on Bloglovin
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from Idaho National Laboratory, Jim.Richmond, Idaho National Laboratory, IAEA Imagebank