Energy by the numbers

The United States has about 100 nuclear power plants. On the average each plant produces about 8 billion kilowatt-hours of electric energy per year.

The total electric power generated by all coal burning stations in the United States is about 2,000 billion kwh of electricity per year. If 250 additional nuclear plants were constructed, current coal consumption of about a billion tons per year could be avoided.

Coal contains more carbon per unit of energy delivered than any other fuel. On the average – it varies between mines – coal contains about 50 percent carbon. Those 250 nukes would reduce carbon-to-the-atmosphere by about 500 million tons per year. Yet worldwide, about 6 billion tons of carbon is released to the atmosphere each year.

A greenhouse gas decrease of about 10 percent is associated with 250 nukes. An incredible effort for not much gain. Yet, to reduce global warming, Al Gore reports that he has purchased low-mileage cars for his daughters, James Dulley promotes corn stoves, and Julia Whitty (BDN 11-27) suggests the elimination of McMansions and Hummers. The state touts its windmills. If the focus is on global warming gases, such efforts are meaningless. From a previous piece in this space recall: We consume fuel at a barrels-of-oil- equivalency rate of 500 barrels per second. That will not be significantly reversed without social trauma.