Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Posted by Dylan Ribb

When you think of “Nuclear Energy”, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II? Or perhaps it’s the Chernobyl disaster in 1986? Or do you think of an affordable, efficient, environmentally friendly way to provide large amounts of energy to large amounts of the world’s population with lower costs than fossil-fuel based energy, a smaller “carbon footprint”, and relatively low risks to health? For most people, the first two examples immediately come to mind when someone mentions building a nuclear power plant in favor of a coal-based energy facility. However, few people realize that these major events in our world’s history are episodic, and not epidemic. Aside from Chernobyl, there has only been one other major disaster involving nuclear power (The event I’m speaking of being the Three Mile Island incident). Even so, the public opinion of Nuclear is that it is expensive and dangerous.

Currently, 14% of the world’s power comes from nuclear energy, and these facilities are safe, clean, and efficient. Contrary to popular belief, nuclear power plants are well-maintained and very unlikely to fail. Failsafe measures are installed in modern plants, and building materials have risen in quality greatly since the Chernobyl incident. Measures for reclaiming and disposing of nuclear waste have also become more efficient, with facilities being built and maintained to temporarily contain and reduce radioactive hazards while long-term solutions are being discussed. Presently, only 1% of all toxic waste is nuclear waste, and 95% of that waste can be reclaimed and reused. Nuclear Power plants are also far more cost-effective in the long-term, and have a longer “shelf-life” than coal-based power plants, especially with fossil fuels becoming sparse throughout the rest of the century. Nuclear power is also expected to be far more sustainable than fossil-fuel energy, and have a significantly lesser environmental impact. According to a segment done on 60 Minutes, nuclear power gives France the cleanest air of any industrialized society, and provides the cheapest electricity in all of Europe.

While nuclear technology is growing rapidly and proving to be a good alternative to fossil fuel based sources of energy, there are some concerns. The storage and disposal of toxic waste, for one, is a big issue in the field. However, researchers are in the process of coming up with ways to contain and get rid of nuclear waste. Another concern that many have is connected to the history of nuclear proliferation and the public idea of nuclear energy being connected to atom bombs and warfare. I admit, this is a concern of mine also, but providing nuclear energy for social applications does not necessarily mean that it will lead to nuclear warfare. It all depends on how those who have control of the technology choose to use it.

There are many other alternatives to nuclear power that I haven’t touched on. Solar power, wind power, hydroelectric plants, and hydrogen-based technologies are all viable options. However, I think that these other technologies must be used in conjunction with one another. And due to the potentially large amounts of energy that nuclear power can provide at a low cost and relatively low risk, I think it’s another great alternative to our current energy program.

I just read this article over at ThinkProgress detailing the insanely greenwashed new campaign from American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. It includes a humorously sung song about Frosty the Coalman, sung by chunks of animated coal extolling the virtues of clean coal. In one such lyric:

There must have been some magic in clean coal technology,
For when they looked for pollutants there was nearly none to see

There is even an interactive version at the ACCCE's website with hovering lumps of adorable coal with googly eyes. It's the worst sort of greenwashing, and frankly the most blatant. It would be almost hilarious, except for the fact that this coalition of big businesses apparently finds the American people so moronic that they would actually buy this garbage.

Read the article below or read the article and hear the song here. If you want to see the interactive version go here.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
‘Frosty the Coalman’: King Coal Launches Holiday-Themed Greenwashing Campaign»

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) has launched a new holiday-themed greenwashing campaign through their website AmericasPower.org aimed at painting their “environmental oxymoron” clean coal technology as “clean,” “affordable,” and “adorable.” As Switchboard explains, the campaign features “animated lumps of coal belting out songs like ‘Frosty the Coalman,’ ‘Clean Coal Night,’ and ‘Deck the Halls (with Clean Coal!).’” An excerpt from “Frosty the Coalman”:

Frosty the Coal Man, is a jolly happy soul.
He’s abundant here in America and he helps our economy roll.
Frosty the Coal Man, is getting cleaner every day.
He’s affordable and adorable and helps workers keep their pay.

There must have been some magic in clean coal technology,
For when they looked for pollutants there was nearly none to see.

View the original interactive version.

It is not clear if ACCCE will expand its new holiday campaign beyond their website, but in the past ACCCE has spread its falsehoods on TV, radio, and in print, often spending millions. In early 2008, ACCCE’s clean coal campaign reportedly had $50 million to spend on pro-coal, anti-climate initiatives.

The Wall Street Journal recently credited ACCCE’s misleading campaign with convincing politicians, the media and the public that “clean coal” is a cure-all for global warming pollution from coal-fired power plants. Even President-elect Obama has taken the bait.

Clean coal, of course, is nothing of the sort. Al Gore put it bluntly: “Clean coal’s like healthy cigarettes — it does not exist.” Similarly, Kevin Grandia writes, “Nothing like mercury emissions, asthma attacks and melting polar ice-caps to get me in the holiday spirit.”


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Ecomerge post by Jeff Hammond

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With the recent elections coal became a very hot topic in the final 24-48 hours, where statements made by Barack Obama concerning the coal industry were all over the media and used in ways meant to sway voters in coal producing states away from the democrats and over to the republicans. In this recent article as is often the case with GreenWashing it is all in the words, in the case of coal the use of the term 'clean coal' we find out is how the industry is trying to remarket coal and to essentially sell the public on it's continued use.