What Is the Cleanest Energy?

I often wonder about the real truth of green energy. I do not like the way that government is trying to force us to adopt green energy. Therefore, I was intrigued by a podcast by Virginia Allen with climatologist David Legates. The bottom line, according to Allen’s translation of a statement by Legates, is that “Wind, solar, and electric vehicles aren’t the clean energy accomplishments that many claim.” Allen’s article continued: 

“The lithium, the atrium, all of the rare earth minerals that are necessary for the batteries, that are necessary for the solar panels, that are necessary for the wind turbines … are called rare earths,” Legates explains on ‘The Daily Signal Podcast.’

These rare earth minerals are acquired through strip mining, he says, a process that involves putting large chunks of earth into a solution. Once the minerals are extracted, what is left is a ‘toxic sludge lake.’

The process of strip mining changes the environment, adds Legates, a visiting fellow who serves on the Science Advisory Committee for the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment at The Heritage Foundation. Legates, also a professor emeritus at the University of Delaware, is the author of a Heritage paper on rising sea levels.

Legates, who joins this episode of ‘The Daily Signal Podcast,’ explains how wind turbines and solar panels are created and discusses his new book ‘Climate and Energy: The Case for Realism,’ co-authored with E. Calvin Beisner. He also identifies what the cleanest form of energy really is.

Legates explained that wind and solar energy is not cheap and producing it is not clean. The minerals needed to build the batteries result in toxic “lakes,” and children are working in the filth. The discovery of petroleum brought cheap energy to the world and made it possible to do away with slavery and horse power. Petroleum is what powered the industrial revolution and brought wealth to many nations.

Legates explained that nuclear energy is the cleanest energy around and will be the energy of the future. It would be the energy of the present, but there were a few scares with it. However, Legates said that most of France is powered by nuclear energy.

I found the podcast interesting. I encourage you to read the transcript or to listen to the podcast at this site. 

Nuclear Energy

Concerns about the safety of nuclear power production increased greatly after a serious accident took place at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in 1979. A breakdown of the reactor's cooling system and the destruction of the reactor's core came as a result of mechanical and human failures. A total core meltdown and a possible release of large amounts of radioactive isotopes into the atmosphere were prevented by scientists and technicians, and plant cleanup continued in 1980.

An explosion and fire in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev, in Ukraine - then part of the Soviet Union - was the worst nuclear accident in history. The explosion and fire tore open the reactor and released into the atmosphere large amounts of radioactive isotopes. The Chernobyl reactors - unlike most Western reactors - lacked an enclosure to prevent the escapement of radioactive isotopes. Authorities reported that thirty-one people died from radiation sickness or burns. They also reported that more than 200 other people were injured badly. Many people believe that those numbers are much lower than the true ones. The eastern part of what was the Soviet Union was covered with radioactivity, and wind carried it into northern and central Europe.

The accidents at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl caused increased opposition to nuclear power in many countries during the 1980's. The Nuclear Regulatory commission in the United States increased control of nuclear plants. "Many experts believed the safety problems could be solved, and some countries planned to expand their nuclear power facilities. Research continued to develop safer reactors, using graphite as a moderator and layers of ceramics and carbon to enclose the fuel rods. The engineers claim that such a reactor could not melt down.

Information for this post came from an article by Vera Kistiakowsky in World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 14, p 592.