We have less than a 100 year supply of Uranium at *present* usage levels, most likely less than 70 years worth of Uranium. Of course the bought-and-paid-for studies say that "BIG" supplies are going to be found. Uh-huh. I believe that alright. But why even bother?
We have a 1000 year supply of Thorium. We have already hit Peak Oil - notice how oil/gas prices fluctuate but the median is always going up. And up. And up. We need to say goodbye to Oil before it either bankrupts us or destroys all of our scenic places (aka recent Exxon pipeline leaking disaster). If we weren't hooked on Oil, do you honestly believe that we'd be fighting 4 oil wars (or is it 5 by now)?
Coal and Fracking Natural Gas... do I really need to say anything? The double-whammy environmental disasters. Coal kills the planet slowly and Natural Gas pollutes our ground water (go to youtube and search for sink on fire or fire in sink to see the wonders that Natural Gas have brought us).
We need to begin a program to replace the dirty energy sources with zero-carbon energy, something on the order of the Moon Landing. That is how important this goal should be to our nation. We all need to understand that it is a matter of national security and our national survival.
I suggest a two-pronged effort, simultaneously building as much Solar PV, Solar Thermal, Wind, Geothermal power, Tidal power and wave power each year as we can while also building the latest generation (Gen IV) Thorium energy plants such as the LFTR (Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor) to replace the oldest or least safe nuclear power plants until all Uranium plants are safely shut down and replaced with Thorium energy plants.
We also need to end the days of being stupid about energy waste. A standard incandescent bulb wastes 85% of the energy that comes out of the light socket in the form of unwanted heat. Replacing energy wasters like that is just one example of being smarter about the energy we use. We will soon begin replacing the incandescent bulbs with LED light bulbs that use only 15% of the energy of an incandescent bulb rated for the same light output. All of the "big players" in light bulb manufacturing are working on high quality LED bulbs that are a screw in replacement for a regular or halogen bulb, turns on immediately, puts out exactly the same color of light. The thing is... the LED bulb will last for 20 years or more.
Electric cars use only 20% of the energy that a gasoline car does -- and instead of 60% to 70% of the money going to foreign countries, some of which fund terrorists, with electric cars all the money you spend (a little higher electric bill) will stay right here in THIS country, building our economy instead of building the economies of people who hate us and want to kill us. Electric cars = SMART. Funding terrorists by driving a gasoline or diesel car = (you get the idea).
There are a thousand different ways that we waste energy and we need to reduce that waste as much as we can. Why? That will reduce the amount of renewable energy plants we have to build, making the goal of 100% renewables that much easier (and less costly) to attain.
Once we have reached the point where 30% of our energy comes from Thorium energy plants (LFTR) and 70% comes from renewable energy sources, then we will continue building more solar plants, wind, etc., until we no longer need the Thorium plants either, we can get 100% of our energy from renewables.
We can do this. Here is the total world energy usage, including Oil, Coal, Electricity, biomass, etc., all energy sources:
In 2008, total world energy consumption was 474 exajoules (474×1018 J=132,000 TWh). This is equivalent to an average annual power consumption rate of 15 terawatts (1.504×1013 W) <1>
The potential for renewable energy is: solar energy 1600 EJ (444,000 TWh), wind power 600 EJ (167,000 TWh), geothermal energy 500 EJ (139,000 TWh), biomass 250 EJ (70,000 TWh), hydropower 50 EJ (14,000 TWh) and ocean energy 1 EJ (280 TWh).<2>
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage - Wind power can power the world all by itself today
- Geothermal energy can power the world as well but any increase in energy usage will outstrip its potential
- Biomass comes close to 50% of the total energy needed
- Solar can power the world 4 times over
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