January/February 1985
By the Mother Earth News editors
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“NUCLEAR POWER CANNOT AT THIS TIME BE CONSIDERED A VIABLE OPTION ON WHICH TO BASE NEW ELECTRIC GENERATING CAPACITY IN THE U.S." No, that's not a quote from an anti-atomic power group, but from a report commissioned by the nuclear industry's own promotional arm, the Atomic Industrial Forum. The product of a 31-member panel of top utility executives and investment analysts, the report concedes that some nuclear plants "have not worked as well as their designers believed they would." The panel places much of the blame for the industry's ills on uncertain licensing and regulatory procedures, but also says that "until construction lead times have been reduced and until there is greater public consensus in favor of nuclear power, the private sector cannot take on the open-ended financial risks that now attend the nuclear power option."
PHILADELPHIA'S CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT HAS CUT ITS ANNUAL ENERGY EXPENSES BY SOME $3.3 MILLION, USING ONLY NO-COST CONSERVATION METHODS. Called the Save Energy Campaign, the program provides incentive by returning 40% of each participating school's energy savings to the school for its own use. In addition to such conventional practices as reducing space heating, lowering the settings of water heaters, and turning off lights in unoccupied rooms, many schools have devised some rather unconventional energy-saving methods. One principal directed the cafeteria staff to serve a cold lunch instead of hot fare one day each month. At another school, where the heating system left some classrooms colder than others, teachers who felt comfortable in cooler rooms switched with those who preferred warmer rooms. Students participated by forming "energy cheerleader" squads, appointing energy wardens responsible for observing and reporting waste, and bringing houseplants to their schools to raise humidity levels. Savings of $4.3 million are anticipated for the 1984-85 school year.
USE OF SOLAR, WIND, HYDRO, AND OTHER ALTERNATIVE ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES IS GROWING RAPIDLY, according to the Annual Renewable Energy Report issued by the Renewable Energy Institute (REI). Wood and hydroelectricity already provide some 8% of the country's energy needs. And other approaches to the "soft path" are also making great gains: Active solar heating and cooling system installations in the U.S. now total almost 700,000 . . . the efficiency of photovoltaic systems has increased some 400% over the past decade, while costs have been cut 500% . . . the total rated capacity of the country's wind energy systems had reached 230 megawatts by the end of 1983, and the figure is expected to rise to 1,000 megawatts in the near future . . . and alcohol fuel production in this country burgeoned from 105 million gallons in 1981 to 400 million gallons in 1983. Copies of the Annual Renewable Energy Review are available from REI (1516 King St., Alexandria, VA 22314, 703/683-7795) for $17.50 plus $8.00 postage.
