The United States is a country that is currently in an energy crises. This disaster in Japan has caused millions more to oppose nuclear energy in the United States and has strengthened the argument for organizations like nonukes.org. We are a country that cannot figure out what is best for our country as far as energy is concerned. We have a administration that doesn't want to drill for oil, but also states they don't want to be reliant on other country's resources. Then the president goes on a latin tour and completely goes back on his statements. Go figure. Let's create a debt to create more debt and to increase our dependency on foreign oil. That's a different energy argument all together, but it is a good example as to why we should take some items into our own hands if we can.
We have an energy council that states that we are better prepared for events like this than Japan was, even though Japan is viewed as the most well prepared country in the world for these kinds of events. I think Hurricane Katrina has clearly showed us that we are subject to the same devastation that Japan is, we are now rebuilding New Orleans and moving people back in even though it is still below sea level, what could possibly go wrong there?
Despite all of this there is no solid plan in place to replace the energy that we use. As of 2009 nuclear energy accounts for 20% of our energy production. We as a country cannot just shut down our reactors and pretend that energy is going to magically come from some other source. If we shut down our reactors Americans would be forced to conserve energy resources. Conservation is not part of an American's daily routine or culture, so I believe that plan would fail before it ever began.
Nuclear energy is a source of energy that has been in place for decades. We have become reliant on it. We cannot just get rid of it and pretend everything is going to be okay. Much like a drug addict, if an addict is reliant on a drug, lets say heroin, and has been using it for 15 yrs on a daily basis, and then just quits cold turkey, that individual will seize up and die rather quickly. Beating that addiction is a gradual process and must be done with extreme care. This energy situation must be handled the same way.
So what can be done? We could use renewable energy, but that energy is nowhere near as efficient as the other forms of energy we are using, and it uses more land that displaces wildlife. It would take 2000 large windmills to replace one nuclear power plant. To produce 1000MW we would have to set aside 585 square miles for wind turbines. That's roughly one third of the size of Rhode Island. Not to mention the cost of this energy would be through the roof. However, we are making small steps in the right direction to make renewables more efficient, but we are far behind the power curve and cannot wait for city and state governments to adopt these technologies.
We as Americans could take this argument into our own hands rather than complaining and doing nothing to help the situation like we always do. There is a house that I visited in Lansing, Michigan last year. It used just about every resource possible from solar panels, a small wind turbine, to better insulation used from recycled plastic, and insulated windows. It was so efficient that their lifestyle was not effected and they actually received a check every month rather than a bill from the electric company. I'm not saying every household should implement all of these technologies demonstrated, but if we did invest in just some of them in every house, we would use far less energy and we would all receive a nice tax write off and not to mention it may be enough to reduce or eliminate the 20% figure produced by nuclear energy.
America was built by people who acted when trouble was on the horizon. Not by people that pointed their finger at the someone else and did nothing to help the situation themselves. Nuclear energy will not go away without the American people doing something proactive in their own homes. We can't point our finger at the government when the government has already placed incentives to reduce energy consumption. Doing small things like buying CFLs to light your home, and unplugging power strips when we're not using them alone would take a nice chunk out of our energy consumption. I don't know about you, but I'm going take the finger I'm pointing and point it at myself before I can point at anyone else. If we all do our small part we can make a big impact on the nation's energy concerns.
