For as much as our government and the major players in the energy sector push for "renewable" and "sustainable" energy, using solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, and the hydrogen-power fantasy (As I call it), the only REAL action and substantial investments are in nuclear power and natural gas.
Firstly, NP2010 or Nuclear Power 2010 Program: this was created in 2002 under the Bush Admin.'s U.S. Secretary Spencer, which calls for a joint government and private sector investment in what will eventually be the prominent infrastructure for nuclear energy in the nation, where the U.S. will invest heavily in the research, production, and regulation of nuclear power plants.
Obama's Admin., which has not been a stranger to 100% pro-nuclear power, is in support of this and has increased funding for nuclear power in the annual budget. In fact, this is outside of the $8 billion dollar commitment Obama has made in February, in providing loans for development of new nuclear reactors in Georgia...and TRIPPLED the amount he wants to loan for new reactors to $54 billion!
Seriously, everything as far as "energy reform" presented by Obama is enough for an environmealist to have a heart attack. Obama implied to the nation back in January and February that he was going to eventually open up off-shore drilling, and was still focused on "clean coal" (bulls***t), and nuclear power....Oh, and "solar powerr, wind power, and Captain Planet". He is a hit with the energy industry, and he is the reason why I'm going to continue to be invested in energy companies that have nuclear power in their portfolios, or plans...Oh, and natural gas as a backup incase another Thousand-Mile Island happens, on a big enough scale to destroy nuclear energy stocks.
If you've been keeping up with the news about the BP oil spill, and the Chevron spill, OUTSIDE of the immediate events, both of these spills have actually increased the positive attitudes for nuclear energy. In a June 8th article of Seeking Alpha, an online economics and finance news publication, even major "green" organizations like Green Peace and Friends of Earth have joined the pro-nuclear bandwagon.
The next big one: Natural Gas. Natural Gas has been an active major source of eletricity for decades, and in lieu of the movement against fossil fuels, coal-energy firms have been investing HEAVILY into more natural gas production.....ironically, natural gas is also a byproduct of fossil fuels...and really, outside of hydrates and biomass, natural gas isn't really "clean"....and, given the nature of a firm to make profits, most new and mature firms producing natural gas may opt for the "cheaper" processing which means, we're still hardly reducing the right amount of CO2 in the atmosphere.
And, BP and the other oil firms are not stupid. They know the limits of crude oil as a fuel source and a money maker...they know where the energy market is heading, and they are on the frontlines of investing heavily in where the market will be. So, BP, Exxon, Texaco, Chevron, etc. already have a wealthy portfolio of "new energy" in their R&D...and they aren't going to go away...ESPECIALLY with the 10s of BILLIONS of dollars EACH of these oil companies get in money and tax breaks from EACH developed nation including the U.S. That is right, part of their 3,000,000% profits comes from taxpayers' money across the globe. And they provide too much political capital, jobs, and tax revenue for any nation to go against these conglomerates.
This BP oil spill is going to take several months before we get it under acceptable control....but it will take decades before the results are cleaned up. And, of course the government isn't going to go ahead with its entertaining threats of criminally charging the corporation....all they have to do is suspend the money and subsidizing they are providing to BP (which has already hit nearly $900 between January and June of this year alone).
And any of the monies BP has to pay for this incident, they are going to get back by the end of the next quarter, and double if not triple it by the end of this year.
Oh, and there is going to be another oil spill in China as the same s***t is happening there with unregulated, haphazard deep sea drilling by the same companies.
Solar power and wind power are simply taffy candy the industry and the major world governments are giving out to their concerned and increasingly knowledgable citizens. However, they remain at least a step and a half ahead.
This is the world we live in.....c'est la vie de capitalisme et mondialisation.
(this is happening locally as well in Democratically controlled and Republican controlled local governments....for instance, in Wisconsin, Gov. Doyle [D:071a93ec72], introduced the Clean Energy and Jobs bill which was disputed by environmentalists and liberals due to the proposed END of the 10-year moratorium on nuclear power included in the budget...mind u, it was developed by his Climate Change Task Force which includes WE Energies and other energy firms that own natural gas and nuclear power plants or plan to).
Articles of Note:
LA Times: "Obama pledges $8 billion"
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/16/nation/la-na-obama-nuclear17-2010feb17
Seeking Alpha: BP Oil spill boosts Nuclear Power
http://seekingalpha.com/article/209058-bp-oil-spill-boosts-nuclear-power
Wikipedia.org: Nuclear Power 2010 Program
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Power_2010_Program
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