In my previous article Fuel Economy and Technology I elaborated on the need for nuclear energy if the entire American infrastructure were to be converted to Hydrogen and/or plug-in Hybrid vehicles.

Today I ran into the writing of Mark Lynas, who came to the realization that--guess what--nuclear power technology has made great strides.

"[E]nergy is something I care about. The last time I checked my carbon budget, I came in at a fifth of the national average. I rarely fly, even when booked to address faraway audiences about my personal obsession, climate change – a subject I’ve covered in three books. Whenever the word “nuclear” comes up at my talks, a shudder runs through the room. Because everyone knows that real environmentalists loathe nuclear power. It is just evil. Full stop.

Except, well, I don’t believe that any more.

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Wind Turbines Give Bats the “Bends,” Study Finds
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News
August 25, 2008

The recent punishment handed to Rusi Taleyarkhan brings up the specter of junk science again; so I did some research into low temperature fusion reactions. Specifically "Bubble" and "Cold" Fusion. The most recent will be commented upon first.

First Solar, the world's leading thin film solar panel company, claims to have manufactured panels at a cost of $1.14 per watt in the first quarter of 2008. The company predicts that costs bellow $1.00 per watt are achievable. Whereas Nanosolar uses a photovoltaic made from a copper-indium-gallium selenide (CIGS) semiconductor, First Solar uses a photovoltaic made from cadmium and tellurium (CdTe). Both elements are byproducts of the mining and production of base metals such as zinc and copper. These materials are present in abundant quantities to support multiple giga-watts of annual production.