Nuclear

After many months of Ed Milliband putting himself out there as a Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change that actually gets climate change, finally his big Plan, the UK Low Carbon Transition Plan was unveiled on Wednesday, in a speech in the House of Commons that namechecked Transition Towns and which is the boldest national vision for a low carbon society yet seen. Many others have since pitched in with their thoughts, I thought it might be useful here to offer an analysis from a Transition perspective.

UK announces long-term carbon reduction strategy
Climate change: Green dreams
Energy bill rises to tackle climate change are tiny

France imports UK electricity as plants shut
Waxman/Markey; clean air or hot air?
CBI urges shift to nuclear from wind power

Recently a friend gave me a copy of a January 22, 1973 issue of Newsweek. The cover title was “The Energy Crisis”. It’s interesting to look back and see how things have changed; or, to be more accurate, not changed.

Nuclear power is well-disguised fossil fuel
Nuclear power must be part of energy solution
UK regulator raises French nuclear concerns

If you are planning to withdraw, please tell me where you're going, and send directions. If not, it's time to start thinking about how you and your family or tribe will muddle through the years ahead. One word comes to mind: durability. If that wasn't the first word that came to your mind, I'm not surprised.

Feed-in tariffs grow green power but may fall victim to energy politics, German-style
Germany at a more real climate crossroads
Deep in bedrock, clean energy and quake fears
Improving power in rural China

All-expense-paid workshop on covering nuclear energy
Amy Goodman: Free speech vs. surveillance in the digital age
Why the press fails us and how to fix it

State of Paralysis
Natural Gas Politics
US steelworkers form unlikely alliance as renewables reinvigorate rustbelt

At the 2009 Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston two weeks ago, the top issues revolved around policy questions more than technology, such as drilling the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) and climate change legislation. I saw little in the way of progress, however.