Bacon's Rebellion

James A. Bacon



 

Protest This!

Crank up the Nukes

 

Nuclear energy and electric vehicles are a one-two combination for energy

independence, a cleaner environment and a stronger economy.


 

Contrary to the simplistic slogan of the anti-war crowd, “no blood for oil,” the United States is not poised to invade Iraq to take over its oilfields. We’re aiming to take out a megalomaniacal despot who invades his neighbors, butchers his people, harbors terrorists, and amasses nerve gas, biological weapons and rockets to deliver them. Even if we didn’t import a drop of oil from the Middle East, the U.S. still would be getting ready to open up a barrel of whoop ass.

 

Be that as it may, it would be gratifying if we could tell the French, Germans and other ditherers, “You’re on your own now. You disarm Saddam with your pathetic inspections,” and then pack up our troops and head home – especially if we could insulate ourselves from the repercussions of the likes of Saddam Hussein consolidating control over the Mideast oilfields. Energy independence would give the U.S. the luxury it doesn't have now to stiff-arm ingrate allies.

 

There are pragmatic reasons as well to reduce our petroleum consumption: The U.S. imports some nine million barrels of crude oil daily at the cost of some $200 million (2001 prices). That translates into roughly $70 billion a year. Pumping that money back into the U.S. economy would have an exhilarating effect on economic growth, stimulating an array of home-grown industries rather than running up our balance-of-payments deficit.

 

Although energy policy is largely the domain of the federal government, we Virginians are not powerless to act. A confluence of technologies – the increasing safety and efficiency of nuclear power, along with the improving performance of electric vehicles – holds out the prospect of fully migrating our automobile fleet from gasoline power to electric power within a couple of decades. Although that timetable may seem hopelessly drawn out, positive benefits would kick in long before it is complete. We could boost our economy, clean our air and build more livable communities in the process.

 

Here are the strands that we need to pull together. First, we need to lay the groundwork for cranking up the nukes. Four nuclear power units at Dominion’s Surry and North Anna plants already supply about one third of the Commonwealth’s electricity. The plants were designed to accommodate up to eight units, so Dominion could double its capacity fairly easily when demand materializes.

 

The demand for electricity will surge when motorists switch from internal-combustion to electric engines. There are numerous barriers to the widespread adoption of electric vehicles, but better batteries, more efficient drive trains, hybrid fuels and fuel cell technologies eventually will close the gap in price, speed, acceleration and driving ranges that make today's EVs such wimpy little cars. The federal government and the auto industry are investing tens of millions of dollars in a variety of technologies that will make electric vehicles a reality. Eventually, EVs will become a viable consumer option.

 

But here’s what’s not happening. Virginia is making no preparations to create a legal and physical infrastructure to ease the integration of EVs into the Commonwealth's economy.

 

Nationally, California is leading the way on EVs. I normally wouldn’t dream of holding up the Golden State and its command-and-control approach to environmental issues as models worthy of emulation. But the fact is, Californians are committed to accelerating the phase-out of internal combustion engines in favor of electric vehicles, regardless of the impact on business and consumers. They're paying big bucks to be the pioneers. The least we Virginians can do is pay attention to what they’re doing and borrow the ideas that make sense.

 

Believe it or not, there are some useful ideas germinating in the land of nuts and fruits. We Virginians should consider the following:

 

  • Off peak pricing for electricity. The logical time to re-charge electric vehicles is at night, which happens to be the period of lowest demand for electricity and the time when power companies have the most extra capacity. The electric industry could refuel EVs largely with existing power plants, minimizing the need to build new facilities. Here in Virginia, the State Corporation Commission could fashion an off-peak pricing plan that would pass on the lower generating costs to EV owners.

  • Public charging places. Limited driving range is one of the great drawbacks to EVs. If people could re-charge their cars in parking lots, shopping centers, airports and other locations, they would have less fear of getting stranded. Virginia needs to update its electrical, fire and building codes to safely accommodate such “opportunity charging” facilities.

  • Technician training. Electric vehicles require less maintenance than gasoline-fueled cars – that’s one of their more attractive features – but they are built differently. Consumers want assurances that they can find someone to handle repairs and maintenance, such as the periodic replacement of batteries. Community colleges should be working now with the automobile dealers association to develop training programs that can be introduced as the demand for EV technicians increases.

It may take several years of studying and wrangling to put these basic elements in place. The time to start is now, not when EV-related issues have finally reached a boil.

 

Electric cars seem to be one of those environmentally friendly technologies, like solar energy, whose commercial viability remains tantalizingly just beyond reach. But a close cousin, the “Segway Human Transporter” is affordable right now.

 

Standing upright on this two-wheeled vehicle, riders can travel up to 15 miles at speeds of up to 12.5 miles per hour. Gyroscopic controls mean that riders never lose their balance. Segways can climb curbs and some stairs, and they can carry a total load of 250 pounds – passenger plus cargo. The vehicle sounds like something out of the science-fiction future, but it’s here right now. Go to Amazon.com can purchase a Segway for $5,000.

 

The Segway is a policy wonk’s dream. It’s more than a curiosity, more than an elegant piece of engineering. As an entirely new mode of transportation, the human transporter dangles the prospect of changing the dynamics of human settlement patterns. The potential exists to pry millions of people out of their automobiles currently used for short commutes, errands and recreational jaunts. If utilized on a widespread scale, Segways can relieve urban congestion, making cities far more livable.

 

An urban-planning rule of thumb holds that most people are willing to walk a quarter mile, but they hop in cars to go greater distances. By increasing speed and reducing physical exertion, Segways change that calculation. Trips in pedestrian mode become practicable for distances of a mile or two. Although sidewalk-sparse suburbs may be as hostile to Segways as they are to pedestrians, urban areas are blessed by a skein of underutilized sidewalks and, to a lesser extent, bike lanes. Shifting people from cars to Segways will reduce congestion on city streets. Also, because the Segway takes up a fraction of the space of a car, it can ameliorate one of the banes of urban existence: parking.

Segways also can change the economics of mass transit, particularly METRO and light rail. As a rule, people are willing to walk a quarter mile to reach a mass transit stop. If Segways were in widespread use, transit stops could draw pedestrians from a mile or two away. Because they take up so little room, the parking lots that currently surround a number of Virginia METRO stations could accommodate far more commuters. Segways could be 

the key to boosting mass transit ridership and making transit projects pay their own way.

 

In sum, Segways can take cars off streets, bolster the use of mass transit, and reduce the need for city parking. Best of all, they run on electricity. Like electric vehicles, they can be charged up at home or at parking spaces equipped with electric plugs.

 

Of course, Segways have drawbacks. Because riders are exposed to the elements, ridership undoubtedly would tumble when it rains or snows. Segway riders switching back to conventional modes of travel might overwhelm the transportation alternatives.

 

Despite such uncertainties, the Segway experiment would seem to be well worth taking. Municipalities could take the lead by equipping city employees with the transporter. Perhaps mounted policemen could trade in their bicycles and horses.

 

Another logical place to introduce the vehicle would be in and around college campuses. The “human transporter,” besides providing affordable transportation for students, would be superbly adapted to pedestrian-oriented campus environments. Perhaps Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia, VCU or ODU could consider taking the lead in integrating this novelty into their transportation plans. Universities could comprise the nuclei of Segway-oriented systems that would fuse organically with the transportation networks of Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Richmond and Norfolk.

 

Undoubtedly, many practical problems would need to be solved. What's a permissable speed limit on a sidewalk? Who has the right-of-way, bikes or Segways? For purposes of traffic enforcement, should a Segway rider be treated as a pedestrian or a motorist? But with time and experience, those problems all could be worked out. As pioneering communities climb up the learning curve, others can learn from their experience. In time, even suburban developers might begin incorporating Segway transportation into their community and neighborhood designs.

 

It’s been 24 years since the partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island. Nuclear power units have operated safely, virtually without incident, ever since. Indeed, thanks to advances in technology and engineering, nuclear power plants are safer and more efficient than ever. Without adding a single new unit, the nation's nuclear industry has increased output from 577 billion kilowatt hours in 1990 to 788 billion last year simply by reducing downtime.

 

Four of the nation’s 103 nuclear power units reside here in Virginia. The units at Dominion's Surry and North Anna plants account for 30 percent of the state’s electric power. Except when production has been interrupted by scheduled upgrades and maintenance, the plants have consistently ranked in the top-performing quartile of all nukes. Top-quartile plants generate electricity for 1.33 cents per kilowatt hour on average, making them among the cheapest sources of electricity anywhere.

 

Safety issues aren’t nearly the concern they were back when malfunctioning controls and human error combined to nearly melt down the nuclear core at the Three Mile Island plant. Advances in control technologies have immeasurably improved power plant reliability. Meanwhile, the stickiest environmental problem – disposal of nuclear waste – is close to being resolved now that Congress has designated the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada as a permanent disposal area. Dominion’s units store their spent, radioactive fuel in massive containers sealed by 15 inches of steel and lead, pump helium into them, and embed them with monitors to detect any seepage from the primary to secondary seals. These babies weigh 150 tons each; no one is going to walk off with one. No one's going to hijack one on the way to Nevada.

 

The environmental benefits seem too good to pass up. In contrast to coal-fired plants, nuclear power plants emit none of the gases that contribute to the formation of acid rain. They don’t spew out carbon dioxide which, according to some climatologists, plays a role in global warming. If new nukes were constructed in Virginia tied to a serious campaign to phase in electric vehicles, which would cut emissions of ozone-forming chemicals from conventional automobiles, the state could go a long way to improving its air quality.

 

Clean air. Low-cost electricity. Increased economic activity. Petroleum independence for Virginia’s economy. These are goals worth pursuing. The wonderful thing about the nuclear fuels-electric vehicles strategy is that it would require a minimal investment of state funds. The Commonwealth can accelerate the advent of the new era in energy and transportation by creating a legal, regulatory and public-relations climate hospitable to nuclear energy and electric vehicles.

 

Just remember, it could take years to lay the groundwork. The time to begin is now.

 

--February 24, 2003

 

Bring Home the Bacon

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You can berate Bacon at jabacon@

baconsrebellion.com

 

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A No-Nukes Approach to Energy Independence

Don't blame SUVs for America's gas-guzzling ways. The problem isn't that our cars are too big -- our problem is that we drive too much. The pattern and density of development since World War II has virtually forced people to drive more frequently and to drive greater distances. The growth in "Vehicle miles driven," a measure of how much people drive, has consistently outpaced the growth in population and even the growth in the number of cars.

 

The underlying principle of Virginia (and U.S.) zoning codes is the separation of land uses -- residential, office and shopping/

recreational uses are physically separated from one another. In Virginia's suburbs, it is virtually impossible to walk for any errand more ambitious than borrowing a cup of sugar from the neighbor. (And who does that anymore?) Not only must Virginians drive to get anywhere, hop-scotch low-density development forces them drive greater distances to reach their destinations.

 

If Virginia wants to reduce its dependence on imported oil without electric vehicles, the only way to do so is to re-think our land-use policies and re-develop our entire suburban infrastructure. Here's my guess: We'll be zipping around in our own, personal anti-grav flying machines before that ever happens. For my money, bring on the nukes and EVs.