Eric the Red

Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore has reversed his 30 year course and suggested that nuclear power should be used in the future. Says Moore:

The 600-plus coal-fired plants emit nearly 2 billion tons of CO2annually — the equivalent of the exhaust from about 300 million automobiles. In addition, the Clean Air Council reports that coal plants are responsible for 64 percent of sulfur dioxide emissions, 26 percent of nitrous oxides and 33 percent of mercury emissions. These pollutants are eroding the health of our environment, producing acid rain, smog, respiratory illness and mercury contamination.

Meanwhile, the 103 nuclear plants operating in the United States effectively avoid the release of 700 million tons of CO2emissions annually — the equivalent of the exhaust from more than 100 million automobiles. Imagine if the ratio of coal to nuclear were reversed so that only 20 percent of our electricity was generated from coal and 60 percent from nuclear. This would go a long way toward cleaning the air and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Every responsible environmentalist should support a move in that direction.

Personally, I believe global warming is poppycock. To me, energy efficiency and renewable energy are a matter of good economics, not ways to head off a pending apocalypse. I would argue that the sun (among other things) has more to due with it. You, the reader, are always free to disagree.