Carolyn Heising, a professor of industrial, mechanical and nuclear engineering at Iowa State University, wrote an editorial last week in The Des Moines Register calling for a truce between proponents of wind and nuclear power. She persuasively argues that if you can support one energy source, you can -- and should -- support both.
It's time for a truce. In reality, nuclear and wind are not competitive, but complementary. And beyond that, large amounts of both are essential, if we hope
to continue meeting our power needs while cutting back on the fossil-fuel emissions that are heating up the global environment.
For its part, nuclear power is the only emissions-free source of affordable, large-scale electricity that can be counted on to generate power 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This capability is crucial. Our high-tech economy, based heavily on
computers and other electronics, requires total reliability in its electric power. Even brief blips in service can cause havoc - with airline safety, financial services and thousands of other sectors of our economy that rely heavily on electronics. For cities, factories and major computer operations, it takes a major power source that works around the clock. That means nuclear power.
Wind power cannot meet this need. It's too diffuse and too dependent on the whims of the weather. But what it can do is provide electricity to meet demand at peak times of the day, reducing the need for electricity from high-priced natural gas.
Working together - with energy efficiency and other renewables as they develop - they can help us meet the great challenge of the century: to provide the energy that the world needs (both the industrialized world and rapidly developing countries) while limiting our release of global-warming gases. We know that we will be unable to completely forgo the use of fossil fuels. But to the extent possible, we need to replace them with emission-free sources. That means recognizing that with the population of the United States topping 300 million people, adding the equivalent of one California every 10 years, the renewal of nuclear power and the further expansion of renewables are essential.
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