Why Are Global Warming Alarmists Afraid of Nuclear Power?

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Nuclear Power - Economics, Design, & Industry

Date posted: 05/25/17

Robert Tracinski reports that In the New York Times, David Leonhardt praises China and India for cutting carbon dioxide emissions, despite the fact that hundreds of millions of people in both China and India live in poverty, unable to afford basics, decent food, shelter, medical care, and education, that Westerners take for granted. Pause here for a moment to reflect on the progressives of The New York Times, in their superior compassion and love of humanity, congratulating desperately poor foreigners on choosing to remain poor. Leonhardt goes on to excoriate we Westerners, who live in comparative luxury, as climate cowards for refusing to sacrifice economic vitality to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement. But notice one of the things he is leaving out of this story, which is also missing from The New York Times editorial Leonhardt is praising. How is it exactly that China and India are managing to shift to non-fossil fuel sources? Yes, they are building wind farms and installing solar panels, although both have notorious problems with reliability of output. But the other big part of the story is that China and India are building nuclear power plants...and lots of them. According to the World Nuclear Association, Nuclear was the fastest-growing electricity source in China in 2015, up 29% ), while generation from fossil fuels dropped 2.7%, due to weak economic conditions more than the ongoing energy transformation. By the way, that last part means that The New York Times has its cause and effect reversed. China is not experiencing slower economic growth because it made the hard to choice to restrict its carbon dioxide emissions. It has lower carbon dioxide emissions because it was already experiencing slower growth for other reasons. Coal is still the country overwhelmingly dominant source of power, like in the U.S. But China is ramping up nuclear power quickly. Within the decade, their nuclear generating capacity is going to surpass the U.S. Read on.