Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
International standards are a pipedream. China is adding coal power like crazy. They had to shut down numerous plants in Bejing to help with the smog problem, but in the long-run they are still going with MORE coal. Dirty coal. Not the coal we burn in NA. How exactly is any international standard going to force them to at LEAST do better with the freakin' plants they have?
We can make changes in NA. We SHOULD make changes. But each country will control their own 'fate'....and if you believe that GHGs affect the whole planet even if they are being pumped into the atmosphere 3,000 miles from where we live, well we might be screwed. Because I don't see China doing something better.
Well if you look at most nuclear disasters, there were some pretty obvious problems involved. Japan? Lack of a secondary power source. So we can do better.
It also helps if we put the plants in a safe and remote part of the country.
Canada is going for 7 nuclear plants in 2012 to 6 plants in 2020, so I'm not sure what we will have to do to get that to 10? 15? Because while NG is great, it is even more a stop-gap solution than nuclear is. We should focus on getting our power generation to emit 75% less GHGs by 2050. Nuclear will do that.
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Well I don't know what to tell you about China and other developing nations. While China is a heavy emitter, I have also heard that they have come up with some of the best technologies to combat the problem. Getting the industries to use them will be the hard part, as we all know how companies like to spend money on no return. But there was an article just a few weeks ago from the Associated Press on how China is already taking steps to combat it's air pollution, cause well, we've all seen what their cities look like.
At the end of the day they will get on board too because it will affect them at home.
As far as nuclear power goes, as I said, I already support expansion there.