Coal and Nuclear: Can We Rehabilitate These Environmental Offenders - Essay Example

ARTICLE REVIEW COAL AND NUCLEAR: CAN WE REHABILITATE THESE ENVIRONMENTAL OFFENDERS? and/or ID # Teacher This article begins with theassumption and understanding that any alternative energy sources that are in minimal use today will in no way meet the needs of the planet in the foreseeable future. Solar energy sources would have to increase by a factor of 700 and wind energy by a factor of 40. Furthermore, both are not thoroughly standardised enough to create long term capital business ventures and both have storage problems in the sense that the input of power is not uniform nor guaranteed. For instance, when neither wind nor sunshine are present no power is generated, calling on reserves in storage. On the other hand, both coal and nuclear have little or no energy storage needs and both have been thoroughly analysed in a cost analysis to promote further interest by the business community to build more plants of both types. The authors grant that both these sources come with tremendous environmental impact, and in fact refer to them as ‘environmental delinquents,’ but they purport that they both are essential ‘wedges’ in the power capacity production of the world. However the tremendous amount of carbon emissions produced by coal energy and the problem of nuclear waste storage and the high cost to produce nuclear energy are daunting problems for these resources. Coal itself produces the lion share of energy for the planet. Its use is expected to rise 73% by the year 2030, due primarily to the economic emergence of both India and China. If this scenario is true than greenhouse gases are also projected to increase by 56% within the same time frame. The authors point out that the ‘good news’ is that there are alternatives to reduce these carbon emissions by sequestering the gasses in large underground chambers. However the technology and lack of fail-safe protocols are counter productive to implementing this technology. There is also the process of Coal gassification, which separates out the various gasses from raw coal and makes the sequestering of Carbon Dioxide a more simplified process. A by-product of this would also create hydrogen gas that can be burned and also used as fuel. They also site the continued abundance of fossil fuels as a source for energy far into the future. While research continues in to the area of Clean Coal plants, most researchers admit that it is an impossible pipe dream. Nuclear energy, on the other hand, has had its bout of black-eyes such as the Cernoble and Three-Mile Island disasters. The authors admit this was very bad press for production of more nuclear energy producing plants, stating that it has been in the ‘power doghouse,’ since these disasters. Their argument for a nuclear energy renaissance is not quite as strong as for coal, yet they insist that it should be pursued mainly because of the possible centuries of abundance of fissionable material in the earth mineral deposits. Again the problems are waste disposal as well as high cost. Nuclear plant by products would have to be isolated from the environment for thousands of years in order to keep any contaminants from destroying the environmental biosphere. There are options for reprocessing the waste, but at this time the cost is too high to make it profitable. Furthermore, while high level waste would be reduced in reprocessiong there would still be the production of low level waste and some underground storage would still be necessary in order to contain it. Many plants would have to be decommissioned as well as new plants built in order for Nuclear energy to become a wedge in the future energy supply of the world. The authors agree that supporting and increasing the worlds investment in coal and nuclear energy has its drawbacks but insist the we keep our options open and not simply switch off our supply of either. At the least they are stopgap measures while more research goes on into renewable energy sources and more environmentally friendly energy supplies. Marginal Socil Cost of one Externality: In this case the GNEP creates a negative externality variable as far as output versus MSC is concerned. Tax disincentives to reduce production: In order to create the maximum social benefit a Pigovian tax could be introduced to create the social optimum output. The authors present a valid argument in regards to continued investment in both Coal and Nuclear energy. They point out the benefits as well as the dangers of both, but remain in favor of keeping both as wedges of our energy future. While Solar, Wind and other alternate renewable resources are certainly available, the authors feel they are far too underdeveloped both technologically and economically to be of any immediate large-scale or profitable use. While this is certainly a valid point, this reviewer feels they may be leaning too much in favor of Coal and Nuclear power and negating the long term and quite possibly devastating consequences of their environmental impact. While somewhat addressing this danger, they seem to downplay the fact that the more we use these resources the more of a danger from greenhouse gasses and nuclear spills and weapons proliferation increase. While certainly addressing the energy and economic needs of the world they do little to recognize the social and environmental impact of both. This reviewer is certainly in favor of protecting the public health by any means necessary and while positive reinforcement through tax incentives and other economic inducements, it may always be necessary to use stronger measure when companies refuse to follow agreed upon guidelines for the protection of the environment. This is especially true when dealing with a company whose home nation does not enforce the global environmental standards regarding the environment. While generally this means that the cost of their products is low and an enticement to purchase, sanctions against such commerce may be necessary for the long-term health of the globe. However, in the efforts to increase global awareness and harmony, sanctions should always be the last resort. Read More