China declares war on ISIS after terrorists claim to have executed Chinese hostage

Pickens' plan consisted of exactly the kinds of massive investment you are talking about. $1T invested in windmill farms and incentives to convert vehicles to natural gas.

I simply think you underestimate the cost involved.

Germany invested massive amounts of money and still generates 50% or more of its energy from coal, natural gas, and nuclear. They are even still building coal power plants. Coal power accounts for 45% of their energy, nuclear another 16%. They import 1/3 of their energy. I simply wouldn't point to it as a success, but rather as an example of a boondoggle. The government there did wise up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Germany

In 2013 coal made up about 45% of Germany's electricity production (19% from hard coal and 26% from lignite).[14]



http://www.voanews.com/content/green-energy-expansion-in-germany-comes-at-a-hefty-price/1858699.html

Green Energy Expansion in Germany Comes at a Hefty Price

FRANKFURT—Germany is one of the top producers of renewable energy in the world. Since the year 2000 the country’s production of clean electricity jumped from a modest 6 percent to 25 percent last year in an effort to shift the German economy from nuclear power and fossil fuels towards wind and solar energy. Despite the progress, German consumers pay among the highest electricity prices in the European Union.

Lissy Ishang started turning off appliances to save energy when she moved away from home a decade ago. Back then, Lissy’s family was paying half the price Germans pay today for electricity and this year German consumers are expected to pay even more.

Today an average family of four in Germany spends about $107 a month for electricity. This year, their monthly bill will be $129, almost three times more than a family in the United States.

“I always make sure that things are turned off when I leave home. I pull plugs and shut down appliances. I am trying to be careful how much we use because electricity is really, really expensive,” Ishang said.

The price hike is due to an increase in the Renewable Energy Surcharge. The surcharge is one of many government fees, taxes and subsidies that are passed on to average consumers and fund Germany’s renewable energy sector.

 

About 1/2 of americans are against nuclear power.

I'm all for nuclear power. The regulatory hurdles are ridiculous. There are only 61 nuclear power plants in the country. It takes decades to get one approved and built.

Pickens knows his stuff

Your figure for the cost of nuclear power plant construction is understated by a factor of 2-3x.

Nuclear doesn't make cars move.

 

Denny, your two links seem to disagree completely. Is wind and solar in Germany 25%, or 2.1%?

barfo

 

or going into Vietnam and losing 50K+ lives for...what exactly?

 

Natural gas and nuclear are clean energy.

Wind and solar is 2.1%.

 

Just elect any of the Republican candidates, they all promise they'll get rid of all those pesky regulations.

Getting rid of safety regulations is a good thing, right? And those candidates wouldn't be lying about getting rid of regulations, would they?

barfo

 

Getting rid of regulations that serve no purpose and hinder progress is a good thing. We might look to France's regulations to see what works better than our own. They get 75% of their power from nuclear and their regulations actually are safer and deal with the waste better than ours.

You really want regulations that cripple the economy.

See how strawman logic fail works?

 

No, they are a different country and we CANNOT and MUST NOT ever consider whether another country might be doing something better. See, e.g. healthcare.

Yes, I'm constantly proposing regulations that would cripple the economy. You got me. Like, background checks on gun sales, and, uh, I can't remember the others. Oops.

barfo

 

Says you, but your link says

nuclear is on the wrong side of clean in that sentence.

barfo

 

And?

 

And so your sources seem to be in disagreement. That one says 25% is clean energy, and that excludes nuclear and fossil fuels.

Not that it matters hugely - I'm just curious what the true numbers are.

barfo

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Germany

Renewable energy is more present in the domestically produced energy, since Germany imports about two-thirds of its energy.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/germanys-expensive-gamble-on-renewable-energy-1409106602

The project is the linchpin of Germany's Energiewende, or energy revolution, a mammoth, trillion-euro plan to wean the country off nuclear and fossil fuels by midcentury and the top domestic priority of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But many companies, economists and even Germany's neighbors worry that the enormous cost to replace a currently working system will undermine the country's industrial base and weigh on the entire European economy. Germany's second-quarter GDP decline of 0.6%, reported earlier this month, put a damper on overall euro-zone growth, leaving it flat for the quarter.

Average electricity prices for companies have jumped 60% over the past five years because of costs passed along as part of government subsidies of renewable energy producers. Prices are now more than double those in the U.S.

(A $trillion for a small country like Germany)

 

Ah, that explains it - domestic production vs. total use. Makes sense, thanks.

barfo

 

We don't need their oil and we certainly cannot deal with corrupt splinter groups who blind kill for shallow purposes. However, too many US oil infrastructures and US oil transport systems are a reason why we are stuck there. The greedy financial bastards kill our guys. How pathetic.