September 15, 2006
THE CASE FOR A DEMOCRATIC CONGRESS:
US to cut funds for two renewable energy sources: Geothermal and hydropower are mature enough for private enterprise to take the lead, the government says (Mark Clayton, 9/15/06, The Christian Science Monitor)
Declaring them "mature technologies" that need no further funding, the Bush administration in its FY 2007 budget request eliminates hydropower and geothermal research, venerable programs with roots in the energy crises of the 1970s."What we do well is research and funding of new, novel technologies," says Craig Stevens, chief spokesman for the DOE. "From a policy perspective, geothermal and hydro are mature technologies. We believe the market can take the lead on this at this point."
For libertarians, the notion that Republicans helped to get innovative technologies ready to compete in the free market is reason enough to throw the bums out. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 15, 2006 9:21 AM
Sounds right to me. Govt has supported these technologies for over 30yrs - time to cut the cord.
Posted by: AWW at September 15, 2006 9:57 AMIf they want to do something useful about it, start issueing permits for geothermal power plants in Yellowstone.
Posted by: Mike Earl at September 15, 2006 11:23 AMThe amount of energy you get from the mining of geothermal fluids is minimal, and if they do cut the subsidies, expect to see little further development and even some plants being shutdown when it comes time for the next (expensive) maintenence cycle.
As for Yellowstone, you'd get more (and more reliable) energy by reviving the old '20s attempts to divert the Yellowstone River (and the Lake) into the Snake River via the Bechler River region for irrigation of Eastern Idaho.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at September 15, 2006 12:44 PMWhat about fusion? The govt has spent billions and billions for 30+ years with nothing in sight.
Posted by: Gideon at September 15, 2006 3:37 PMThen it still needs funding.
Posted by: oj at September 15, 2006 4:09 PMGideon: A lot of research that was fusion in name was actually done to give data for simulations on the nuclear weapons stockpile.
Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I'm curious about thorium reactors. It's a subcritical fission material that can be made to work by adding in the right neutron sources. That makes it fail-safe. Additionally, there are no weapon grade byproducts, and the waste that is generated has a half-life of 500 years. That's a lot more managable than 500,000 years. Even more, the reactor can be used to burn longer lived and weapons grade plutonium waste. It sounds promising to me.
Posted by: Mike Beversluis at September 15, 2006 4:15 PMI really don't know why there hasn't been more of a push to fund research into cleaner and safer forms of nuclear power; anyone have any ideas?