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Can the US confront global warming without adding more nuclear power?

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Yes
68% 53 votes Total: 78 votes
No
32% 25 votes

Certainly. The twenty-first century will be one of innovation, technological prowess and a shift to a better livelihood. The United States will be one of the leading countries in the world to stimulate change in energy attitudes within its borders, and then throughout the world.

Nuclear energy is said to be undergoing a renaissance, the first since Chenobyl, but for the United States, it is a better choice to sustain both energy needs and the environment of the future through renewable sources: wind, solar, hydro and wave. These forces are immense, eternal and if utilized properly, able to assure the energy future of the Americans.

While some may argue that nuclear power is the most efficient, reliable and safe, they do not count the possibility of a radiation leak, in case an accident occurs, or the storage of spent fuel rods, which remain dangerously radioactive for thousands of years after their useful life. There is always a possibility that radiation will be released into the environment, to reach levels beyond what is considered tolerable. The result could be deaths in the region, birth defects, radiation sickness, and the contamination of plants, soil and water. This is just one incentive to consider in the decision to pursue renewable energy sources.

The ocean currents are a very promising potential for endless energy. Already, off the coast of Portugal, a pilot project that involves underwater turbines, successfully produces electricity to supply the several thousands homes it is designed to support. Similar technology, placed in the waters off America's extensive coastlines, can supply enough energy to replace the entire current fossil fuel capacity in the United States .

Another way to increase energy efficiency is through the use of hybrid vehicles. Toyota has given the start, with its highly successful Prius, and is constantly involved in improving it with each successive year. In 2008 or 2009, Toyota has set a goal to have one million hybrids on the roads of the world, and in the United States, a good portion of those sales are realized.

Further measures to increase efficiency is a sports car, built by Tesla Motors. It is a remarkable machine, driven entirely by electricity, and costing a respectable one hundred thousand dollars. This, however, is not the average electric car; it can outrace a Ferrari from a still start, though it does not have the legend's top speed, and it also has a range of four hundred kilometres, before needing to be recharged.


Below are the top articles rated and ranked by Helium members on:

Can the US confront global warming without adding more nuclear power?

Yes
  • 1 of 10

    by G.R.L. Cowan

    Imagine yourself trapped in a sunken submarine, like the SSN San Francisco if it had hit that undersea mountain a little

    read more

  • 2 of 10

    by George Ivanov

    Certainly. The twenty-first century will be one of innovation, technological prowess and a shift to a better livelihood.

    read more

No

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