Good energy programs come from good government (John Shanahan) USofA

Good energy programs come from good government John A. Shanahan July 27, 2018 Here are a few ideas showing that prosperous living is best with good government, plentiful energy, a clean environment, and respect for nature.

Part 1 – People and government Well run countries have the best chance of establishing sound energy programs. Energy is the foundation for prosperous economies. With the beginning of widespread use of fossil fuels, people had the first very big opportunity to escape from the low living standard of ordinary persons that existed from the beginning of time. Many poor countries today have minimum energy programs; buy any available fuel, no matter if it is dirty or not. In North America and Europe, Pittsburgh, Toronto, London, had very dirty air and water up to the 1960s. Countries where the energy is mostly exported to other nations are frequently run by corrupt very rich politicians and self serving businesses. Wherever energy is not available to people, there are very few opportunities to improve lives. It takes energy to make life better. Plentiful, reliable energy enables good standards of living and sound economies. It takes very good energy planning for the long term, not jumping on what is coming out of the latest hole in the ground.

America has been a very successful nation. But elected officials too often get into office by making unsound, hollow promises. It should be the other way around. Voters should be educated and informed. They should seek qualified officials, not the ones who make the fanciest promises. America should set an example of how to get along with other countries. Unfortunately, getting along with other countries for peace and prosperity is not a top priority. To be able to elect good leaders, voters must have knowledge, experience and integrity in these matters. Otherwise, elections are just popularity contests to find the candidate who promises the most in the short term.

America has never been completely isolationist. Starting right after the Revolutionary War, the United States promoted business with many countries, including its arch enemy, Great Britain. Voter knowledge and interest in the rest of the world is very important. But the majority of Americans don’t have this knowledge and interest. Sixty four percent of Americans do not have a passport. Most people without passports have very little contact with the outside world. Of the 36 % who hold passports, many only want to go to fancy resorts and hardly get to know the local people. Only a small percentage of Americans who have lived in the USA for several generations speak a second language fluently and have good, long term relations with people outside the USA. Passports are now required to go to Canada and Mexico. That means that most 1

Americans don’t even have contact with their closest neighbors. It shows in political campaigns.

Since the 1960s, American public interest in energy has been divided into those against fossil fuels and nuclear, those against nuclear, those for both fossil fuels and nuclear, and those only for nuclear. The government and industry have not done enough to promote understanding and appreciation for both fossil fuels and nuclear and fight scientifically unsound scare tactics of alarmists. Frequently, America’s government agencies promote policies that impeded development of fossil fuels and nuclear.

Teachers in schools and professors in universities teach why to be against fossil fuels and nuclear. As a result, anti-fossil fuels groups, anti-nuclear organizations and promoters of wind and solar have a firm grip on American energy policy. With this attitude, the United States will not have enough available energy in the long term compared to countries who support both fossil fuels and nuclear.

Part 2 – Energy and currency Author Vaclav Smil says that energy is the only universal currency. You could add that energy is the only currency that will last forever. Other currencies eventually fade away.

Who uses Roman coins, the French franc, the Ecuadorian sucre, the Argentinean peso moneda corriente, the German Reichsmark, or Deutsche Mark now?

Currency has been used in China for more than 3,000 years. Cowry shells may have been the first form of currency in China. Starting in 210 B.C. China introduced copper coins. Paper money was invented in the 9th Century. The yuan was introduced in the 19th century. Currently, the renminbi is the currency of the People’s Republic of China.

The United States has been on the silver standard, the gold standard and the shrinking dollar standard. What will America’s currency be three hundred years from now, if the national debt keeps growing with no limits and no controls, a near worthless dollar?

Only fossil fuels and nuclear have wide potential use and tremendous energy density.

They are plentiful, reliable, and able to meet the base load and variable load requirements of a whole modern world. Wind and solar are very dilute, treacherously variable, unpredictable, and too frequently not available. Hydro power is not available 2

everywhere and the amount varies with changes in weather and climate. See Uganda for example, plenty of hydro energy sometimes, not enough other times.

For the first time, one person lost 16 billion dollars in a single day in stock equity value .

American leaders brag that the United States is the biggest, strongest, and most important economy in the world and think they can dictate and talk down to other great nations. Our long term traditional companies that produce important real things are downsizing, going overseas and being replaced in leading market indices by companies that sell only goods produced elsewhere, services and advertising. This does not have the same importance for America that fossil fuels and nuclear power have. Fossil fuels and nuclear power enable the USA to manufacture everything from elevators, buildings, farm machinery, mining equipment, hospital equipment, computers, and transport everyone and everything, everywhere.

America is floating high on hot air of fake politicians in many political parties and certain service and advertising companies. The biggest economy in the world may collapse as fast as that person who lost 16 billion dollars in one day. Teach real subjects, not feel good subjects in schools and universities. Compete with the world in producing real things, improving them, and developing them. Correctly understand what is happening with climate change and plan for the right energy sources to deal with it: fossil fuels and nuclear. Don't let alarmists, the media, and key religious leaders blame climate change on man's use of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the most important thing supporting the wonderful modern living standards and medical services we have today.

Nuclear is the most important up and coming energy source.

Energy is the only universal currency. Paper and digital currencies are based on arbitrary faith in governments. Nuclear power is the only energy source that can support a modern world for the very long term. Look to the sky day and night. It has been calculated that there are a billion - trillion nuclear powered suns. Can solar panels and wind turbines drive a modern world economy? California and Germany will find out.

Will the NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) approach work?

As a universal currency energy needs to be managed by sound governments and corporations, not by random plunder while it lasts and short term election results. Each energy type should be used for its highest purposes, not squandered on everything.

Should fossil fuels be used to run millions of car engines sitting idle or at a snail’s pace in traffic jams around the world every day? Should natural gas be used to do nearly everything because it is a little cheaper? Remember, gas pipelines don’t grow as demand grows, but rail delivery can and there is hardly any effort delivering one railcar of nuclear fuel per year. Should coal and nuclear be used where they best fit in and add a lot of valuable energy content? Technology can make fuels clean and safe.

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Traffic – Brazil

Traffic – China

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Traffic – India

Traffic – Russia

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Traffic – Saudi Arabia

Traffic – USA Fossil fuels are precious energy sources. They should not be squandered to promote poorly designed transportation networks and badly planned urban settings for today’s world. Cities must be redesigned so commuting distances are short and public transportation much more available. It has been done in Europe. Let fossil fuels last longer and have cleaner air today. Nuclear powered France with nuclear powered electric vehicles is a good way to go. One buyer of an electric car was shown all the maintenance requirements. The salesman opened the hood and lifted a cap for the windshield wiper fluid. That’s all the maintenance needed. Combustion engine vehicles 6

will be used by most people for a long time. But electric vehicles are coming, particularly for the very well off.

Because fossil fuels are so important, the subject of man-made global warming and climate change must be understood correctly. Energy extraction from the ground, its use, and disposal of waste should be done in environmentally sound ways. Energy is dangerous. So is everything else. More people die from events at home and in their community than from nuclear power. Using cleaner fossil fuels promotes tremendous improvement in lives and economies. Energy must be used in a safe manner. That requires government and industry cooperation and planning, like in Canada, China, and France at various times in the last half century.

The website, efn-usa.org, addresses these issues and the need for public education, not alarmist brainwashing that has gone on out of control for so long.

This article covers many subjects. Each one needs the others to be sound and function properly. Nuclear energy does not exist alone in the world.

Humanity has always fought small conflicts and wars with hundreds, thousands, and millions killed, destroying cities and essential infrastructure. Will mankind ever work for peace and prosperity with plenty of clean, reliable, safe energy supplies?

Here are examples of working for peace, a prosperous economy, a well educated world with clean environment and preservation of nature.

Egyptian pharo

Greek philosopher

Tibetan student doing math homework

Ken Saro Wiwa Nigeria

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