Kicking the Carbon Habit: Global Warming and the Case For Renewable and Nuclear Energy I was not convinced by the argument for Nuclear Energy, I’m afraid. It was not very satisfying to read that we could produce all our own electricity that way “safely and efficiently for at least fifty years”. Fifty years! That’s not exactly long-range thinking.
Nuclear Power is Not the Answer I just started this one, but I’m already pre-disposed to agree with it!
The Grid: A Journey Through the Heart of Our Electrified World Haven’t gotten to this one yet, but I’m looking forward to it.
King of the Wind
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
Misty of Chincoteague
Old Yeller
Samantha: American Girl Series
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel
The Little House
Katy and the Big Snow
Butterflies
Caterpillars
How Things Work
Filed under: Homeschooling, reading | Tagged: Homeschooling, reading
I haven’t read Kicking the Carbon Habit, so I can’t guess where the 50 years comes from. Geological surveys show there are at least 600 years’ worth of high-grade uranium ore and thousands’ worth of lower grade. Besides that, recycling the spent fuel multiplies its energy content by something like 70, plus there’s about three times as much thorium as there is uranium.
I agree with you that this issue is very important. You need to know that Caldicott is beyond fanatical on the subject. She has no compunctions about distorting the facts and she works on people’s emotions more than their rationality. After reading that book, you’ll really need to get better sources of information. A very good place to get it is http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~blc/book/.
Thank you for the informative comment. I have to admit that I had already noticed with the beginning I’ve made in her book that Caldicott does not seem to give a lot of reasons for what she says – and I have noticed at least one factual error.
Red Craig, I am not informed at all about this, but the 50 year limitation on nuclear power may not come from the amount of uranium, etc., but from how much we can safely store or from some other consideration. Given that Kicking the Carbon Habit is pro-nuclear energy, I would guess that the author did not falsely underrate the amount of ore available.
Hello! Now that I found you I can poke around a little bit.