Adventures on a Sunday in Salem County
Out for a hike adventure today – came across this conflagration. Looks like what was a controlled burn got a little out of control, no? This week, we will report on a potentially far hotter and less controllable Salem County facility. I am too beat right now to research and write about PSEG’s proposed new nuclear power plant coming to South Jersey and why that’s a bad idea.
Posted this to see if anyone’s paying attention – that’s the PSEG Salem nuclear plant in the background. We will post on that issue this week.
No nukes is good nukes! I’m paying attention – and waiting for the PSE&G expose later this week.
So, what’s your plan to meet our growing energy needs?
Or is it your position that we should just freeze in the dark?
Nuclear is NOT the answer. I don’t trust any of the utilities to run them safely, and when you consider the total cost (incl the construction WE pay for) they are not efficient. Wind & solar is the answer, but since the utilities can’t ever regulate the sun or wind, they will never support that. No way to justify rate increases.
joiseydude,
I assume you don’t use energy from a utility company for your home. Please fill the rest of in on how you’ve managed to use the sun and the wind to generate sufficient power to meet all your needs at zero cost or at least less than what it would cost if you had to buy your energy from a utility company.
As it stands now, New Jersey gets nearly 50 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy. According to an energy master plan drafted by the Corzine administration and obtained by The Star-Ledger, “New Jersey probably needs another nuclear power plant, even if the state succeeds in promoting solar power, wind farms and other clean energy sources.”
Perhaps you could write to the Governor and fill him in on your personal energy breakthrough.
Dear Overtaxed – here is one solution, from today’s Atlantic City Press editorial:
RESIDENTIAL WIND TURBINESAdopt model ordinance
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/146/story/119787.html
I’ll be offering others soon – there is no technical need for a new nuke plant and nuke is by far the most capital intensive and least efficient technology.
ThomasReid – I notice that you like to research and analyze data on issues. Well, there sure is loads of data on this issue so ignoracne is no excuse.
Get your Google working!
ThomasReid – There are too many people who believe that The China Syndrome was a documentary.
Nuclear power is the primary source of electricity in Europe, and China is bringing new nuclear plants online at a pretty good pace, too. We are behind the curve.
Offshore wind farms are a viable technology, but one proposed for Long Island Sound was torpedoed by environmentalists, and Ted Kennedy shut down plans to build one off the coast of Nantucket. There will always be somebody to object to whatever power plant plans are put forth! We can’t drill for oil off the coast of NJ because the tourism folks pitched a fit, we can’t build wind farms because it spoils the view, and we can’t build nuclear plants because 30 years ago a reactor had an accident. Off over the horizon there’s always the nirvana of “clean coal” but nobody seems to have figured out how to make it cost effective yet.
The best way to implement solar power is to place large solar panel arrays in orbit (no clouds up there) and then spot beam the power down to rectenna stations on the ground. Of course, if the eco-warriors object to wind turbines because a bird might fly into one and get mangled, they’ll never allow spot beam power from orbit! A bird crossing one of those beams would be roasted pretty quickly.
nohesitation – try selling your personal wind turbine idea in Wayne where the NIMBYs have been fighting against one tooth and nail for years now.
Overtaxed – the solution to the NIMBY issue on wind (or solar) power is two pronged:
Education is the first – people need to begin to understand the many benefits of decentralized point of use power adn the costs of continued reliance on centralized huge scale carbon energy technologies.
Second tact is shift jurisdiction to the State level. The Legislature delegated certain land use powers to Towns under the Municipal land Use Law (MLUL). Unfortuantely, tyhis is widely mispercieved as some kind of “”home rule” imperrative”. What the Legislature gave they can take back
For example, when there is an over-riding critical state interest, certain types of land uses are not subject to local MLUL control – solid waste facilities for example.
Due to the simultaneously occurring energy crisis (google “peak oil) and global warming crisis, it is time to remove irrational barriers to development of small scale decentralized point of use renewable power.
We can’t get there with a lame model development ordinance by BPU – this takes statewide legislation.
Personal turbines are a fine idea.I’m sure the owner of your condo would appreciate one on the roof. Or perhaps all the people in the retirement home will chip in for the items necessary to build one. I’m sure solar panels are great also. Why to power your modern home it probably only cost $20,000 dollars or so. Keeping them running is easy also unless you blow out a panel cell.
My son works at the plant and so far he hasn’t been glowing in the dark, and I live downwind of salem’s three and I still have two arms and legs, and only one head. Maybe it’s not so bad after all.
Why are people complaining about cost. You don’t seem to mind the sports players getting millions of dollars for playing games. Remember you pay for their saleries. Why should you complain so that you can live like a human being and not like a cave man?
Grow up america. We have been duped by the government in charge and you keep on electing people who have a self interest first, and screw you, time and time again.
We need energy to live as we do. The cheaper the better, and if there any ideas out there send them in. Preferably to someone who really cares about, us would be best.
If you don’t have an answer, complain to your leaders, and don’t stop. Foroms like this are a good way to notify others in the same situation, and it shows somebody at least cares what’s happening in our country.
Keep the letters coming folks, maybe someone will read them, who cares about people.
nohesitation — so it’s ok for the state to ram wind turbines down the throats of local homeowners, but it’s not ok for the state to decide to build a nuclear plant where you don’t think it should go?
Personal generation is a swell idea, on paper, if you can afford the startup cost (no, please don’t mention any state subsidies, the state is broke and clearly cannot afford to be passing out grants for green power). Wind turbines could probably work in a few areas, but certainly not in densely populated areas. Solar panels are getting more efficient all the time, but they still lack the ability to function on cloudy or rainy days.
Hence, any localized generation system will need interconnect ability with the state power grid, and there are a host of engineering issues with that which will serve to jack up the cost even more (a good friend wrote the textbook on how to do that, the issues are complex). I’m not convinced that it’s economical to interconnect 1,000’s of small wind turbines (or solar collectors) when a larger scale plant will supply the same total megawattage at a lower price due to economies of scale.
Personally I’d like to be able to install something like Toshiba’s 4S “nuclear battery” in key locations around the state and have municipalities sell power to their residents like they sell water or sewer service. It’s good for 40 years, it doesn’t care if the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining, and since it’s totally self-contained and lives underground there is little or no danger of a radiation accident.
To establish any of these new power generation facilities will take lots of time and effort, and time is one thing we do not have a lot of. There is a huge deposit of oil just off the coast of NJ. Drilling for that oil would certainly fit my definition of an overriding, critical state interest since it could be used to generate electricity (and lower the price of gas) while we build-out the wind turbines, solar collectors, or nuclear battery installations.
Bill,
The personal wind turbine is more of a rich man’s novelty in areas with access to the eclectic grid than a practical way to produce electricity. How many people could afford such an expensive proposition, assuming they had adequate space and wind to make the project feasible? The average homeowner uses 18,250 kilowatts per year, more than a personal wind turbine would produce, even if wind conditions were optimal 365 days per year.
According to the American Wind Energy Association:
“For its part, the industry is striving to reduce the cost of electricity generated by small wind turbines. In 2002, typical 5- to 15-kW residential wind turbines cost about $3,500 per installed kilowatt. .These turbines produce about 1,200 kWh per year of electricity per kilowatt of capacity in an area with a DOE class 2 wind resource.”
“We project that small wind turbines could contribute 3% of U.S. electrical consumption by 2020.”
Overtaxed – I said remove irrational barriers, not shove anything down a homeowners’ throat. Please read before you hit the “post” button.
Google the term “negawatts” – and “reverse metering”
Power utilities are legally obligated to but or credit this power back onto the grid and its already happening.