To: John Carpenter who wrote (35273 ) 1/17/1999 11:14:00 PM From: silverstein Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 95453
Let me preface my statement by saying that I've aIways been in favor of environmental issues where they are truly beneficial to society. Many environmental advocates have the naive impression that solar energy, electrical energy, or some other source of "clean" energy is going to eventually solve the world's energy problems. Unless science discovers something entirely new (cold fusion doesn't work), It is not going to happen! Solar energy will never really be significant because the solar insolation levels are too low. Moreover, the economy of scale that has propelled the semiconductor industry in digital technology does not prevail for solar cells because you need large physical areas to capture the insolation. The United States is abandoning nuclear energy technology. The near to intermediate term energy generation bets are being placed on gas turbine technology. To run an electric car you got to charge the battery by plugging it into an electrical outlet, the power from which comes from an electrical utility that generates it's electricity by primarily burning fossil fuels. So, the price of fossil fuels, and the stocks of the companies that provide these sources of energy will most certainly appreciate in the future. Most of us here are making the bet that the rise will occur sooner than later. In the long term there is only one apparent solution, which many will find quite unsettling. Fusion is the energy source of the sun; it is probably too dirty a process to ever be practicable on the earth, The only apparent long term solution is some form of fission breeder reactors. Sooner or later, the policy makers will be forced to restart the research efforts aimed towards safe nuclear technology. Seth Silverstein