From “Front & Center”, by Bud Burrell
I spent a number of years working in the alternative energy arena, spanning everything from Hydro, to Nuclear, to Coal, to CNG/Petroleum, to Wind, to Solar, to Brown’s Gas, to Ocean Wave Energy capture turbines, and a lot more along the way. We are being asked to bet on an alternative energy scheme that will wean us off of carbon based energy whether we are ready or not. How rational is a bet on these technologies right now?
The lowest cost power available in the US today is Hydro power from dams. Costs of such energy can approach as little as $.01 per kilowatt hour. Unfortunately, extremist environmentalists have made any new such products almost impossible to get approved. Its pollution and environmental impacts are the lowest of any power source.
The next lowest cost power comes from Nuclear Power. A major facility can generate power for as little as $.02 to $.03 per kilowatt hour. The two biggest negatives of this form of industrial power are the insane lead times to get such projects approved, their strategic vulnerability in the event of War or terrorism, and the difficult problem of disposal of spent fuel rods. France gets more than 80% of its power from Nuclear power plants, which they can do cost effectively because of their adaptation of breeder reactors for reprocessing spent fuel rods at a central facility. The French consumer pays well over $.10 per kilowatt hour conservatively, after taxation burdens. [entire post]