Vol. 6, No. 2
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November 15, 2008
Nevada's Online State News Journal-- Serving Informed Nevadans Since 2003
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Feature Story:
Nevada Energy And
President Obama
Are The Two Compatible?
Where Does He Stand?
by Johnny Gunn
Our new president hasn’t taken the oath of office yet, but for a state that could very well be the leader in renewable energy resources during the next few decades, it’s important to understand exactly what President elect Barack Obama might have in store for Nevada and the nation. Nevada stands at the top of the class in opportunity right now, with virtually unlimited solar energy possibilities, with geothermal activity at a high level of production and research, and with wind farms passing from research into the development stages.
There are many that support the concept of this country being able to use only renewable energy resources in combination with nuclear energy, and there are others, possibly a little more pragmatic in their thinking that understand the limitations of renewable energy. For most energy distributors, such as NV Energy, the peak hours for usage are night time hours, the time when solar energy is at its lowest availability. Wind, too, will have its peak efficiency during daytime hours, and geothermal is the one constant in renewable energy.
From a practical standpoint, then, our renewable resources must work in conjunction with other sources of energy. Many believe that the other source should be nuclear, and of course, problems of waste to be disposed of or recycled, and the constant question of safety will cloud that picture. Natural gas is the least offensive, air pollution wise, of the fossil fuels that are available, and the most expensive at this time. Within the industry, the answer seems to be a combination of resources in which energy is produced efficiently, safely, and with the least amount of pollution. Mr. Obama’s plans fit into that picture, but it isn’t a complete fit.
The new president’s plans for renewable energy call for nationwide production to be at 25 percent by 2050, and he says his plans fort cap and trade programs for control of air pollution will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Nevada was among the leaders in creating a renewable energy portfolio to be filled by NV Energy, and several other states have followed the lead. Nevada’s portfolio calls for 25 percent of the state’s energy to be from renewable sources within the next five years. NV Energy is behind schedule at this time, but not by that much. The goal in Nevada can be reached.
For the nation to be able to hit 10 percent by 2012 and 25 percent by 2050 might be a stretch, but there are many engineers today that believe it can be done. Mr. Obama’s plans also call for an increase in the nation’s transmission grids, one of the major roadblocks to renewable resource availability. Without the federal government creating an opportunity for an increase in the nation’s transmission capability, future use of natural resources will be limited, just as they are limited in Nevada at this time.
The question of where nuclear energy fits in the overall picture will be clouded by many obstacles for years to come. The present administration has been hell bent to open Yucca Mountain as an underground storage facility for high level nuclear waste, and that project has taken over the debate on nuclear energy. There are many in the scientific world today that believe the Yucca project is a dinosaur of the cold war era and should be scrapped while others support it fully.
President elect Obama has waffled some over the last year and a half when dealing with the nuclear energy programs of this country. In the last debate with John McCain, Mr. Obama was the most positive he’s been on the issue. He said, “I favor nuclear power as one component of our overall energy mix.” In town hall meetings during the campaign, Mr. Obama wasn’t that positive. In Iowa, in December of 2007, he said, “I am not a nuclear energy proponent,” but went on to say, “It is unlikely that we can meet our aggressive climate goals if we eliminate nuclear power from the table.”
No one has put numbers to what the nuclear energy industry should meet in future years, but if recycling of spent nuclear rods is as readily available as many scientists believe it is, then nuclear energy could replace as much as 50 percent of fossil fuel energy in use today, probably within a generation. There are license applications under study now for about 25 new nuclear plants to be built within ten years. License applications are being processed for uranium mining and milling operations, and if recycling becomes a full fledged industry, there will be that much less uranium that needs to be mined and milled.
Some of Mr. Obama’s energy plans are very expensive, such as investing $150 billion to create private enterprise opportunities in renewable resources. And to put one million Plug-in Hybrid cars on the highways by 2015. We must always remember that a president’s plans are only as good as what he can get out of his congress. For at least the first two years of his term, Mr. Obama will be working with a democratic majority in both houses of congress, but, in the past. that has not always a green flag for all of a president’s programs.
From Nevada’s renewable resources community, a president dedicated to creating opportunity for the industry, one who appears to understand the consequences of not doing so, would be an industry wide mainspring to continued growth. Will that influence those that have to finance the programs? Will it really add to the job market? And, will an increase in renewable energy projects in Nevada add to the economic stability of the state? We won’t know those answers for a few years, but many in the field are optimistic of the future of renewable resources in the Silver State.
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