2 CA Nuclear Plants closing. Will add 8 million tons of Carbon Emissions per year.

[werepossum]

I live within 20-miles of this plant and having been following things. In the real world engineers don't design buildings to handle a 7.0 or 8.0 earthquake. The public will be told this as a issue talking point. However buildings are designed to handle a certaing peak ground acceleration in G's. If my memory serves me correct the nearest fault to the site was determined to generate around .35G during the most powerful Earthquake that the fault could generate. This G load was then doubled and then was what the plant was designed to around .7G acceleration. Which is fairly substantial ground movement. Realistically how could a building be designed to survive based on a reichter scale number? A close by 6.0 earthquake could generate more ground movement than a far away 7.0 earthquake. That is why Peak ground acceleration is used for building design.

Same thing, really. For a given location, one calculates the peak acceleration produced by the expected magnitude earthquake, then builds in the safety factor.

No hydro power has many ramifications. Just ask the salmon fishing industry how well the Columbia dams worked out.

What we need is new safe nuclear reactors, such as the LFTR design.

Agreed. Hydro plants are devastating on aquatic ecosystems. Conventional pressurized steam nuclear plants can be as well, because of the waste heat produced. More modern nuclear reactors which are inherently safer and require much less cooling are the way to go.

Ha, you just said Cadillacs are shit


But birds fly into them! We need to protect the birds!


Try to remember that USA is a big country. Wind could provide a significant amount of base power. Nobody is trying to claim that the country could switch to 100% wind. It's more like adding wind power so you don't need as many gas and coal plants.

Wind power is continually expnaing across the globe, so I assume there's a practical reason for doing so. I can't imagine every country chasing a money-losing pipe dream all at the same time.
http://www.dw.de/2012-record-breaking-year-for-wind-power/a-16819096

They provide a lot of power because they're so much bigger than anyone can imagine.

We're not killing the birds, we're . . . um . . . helping them involve into something smarter. Like birds which recognize and avoid wind turbines. (Or failing that, birds which walk a lot.)

I bet if you could build one to withstand 250 mph winds Oklahoma would buy a buttload of them. It's not a killing F5 tornado come to destroy your city, it's free electricity for a year!

Beyond that, put them welfare people to work building solar panels and require every illegal alien wanting to apply for a green card to present with 500 meters of #3/0 THHN/THWN and a 1 MW regulator.