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It's unlikely that renewable energy will meet needs for electricity
The New York Times has finally noticed the controversy over the Vermont Yankee reactor and positioned it in an article as a contest between "back to the land" Vermonters and the major utilities and large businesses in the state.
The romanticism of the piece is remarkable. It appears to be a case of goat cheese v. computer chips. IBM is one of the state's largest employers and relies on cheap electricity from Vermont Yankee.
Readers unfamiliar with the relationship of Vermont's bucolic landscape to the urban canyons of New York needs to read the Food pages of the NYT. There they will discover a passionate regard for the culinary adventures awaiting jaded New Yorkers in the green hills of Vermont.
This is likely one of the reasons why the newspaper may have finally tumbled to the energy controversy. With some many of its readers, if not also the paper's reporters and editors, being focused "foodies," it should come as no surprise that this story would eventually migrate from the local papers of Vermont to the NYT. Thankfully, today's article appears in the news section.
Here are a few highlights from the NYT article . . .
The NYT reports that anti-nuclear groups are faced with the unpleasant reality that closing Vermont Yankee will require the state to buy more electricity from fossil fuel plants with accompanying increases in greenhouse gases.
"Antinuclear groups that are arguing for closing the plant hope to replace the lost electricity with renewable generation from wind turbines, solar power and the combustion of plant material. Additionally, they cite the potential for cutting electrical demand by making homes and business more efficient.
Even so, some environmental advocates have reluctantly acknowledged that no combination of renewable power and improved efficiency can replace the plant, Vermont Yankee, at least in the near term. Instead, the state would probably have to tap the Northeastern grid — which derives more than half its energy from fossil fuels — for extra power."
. . . and despite being head over heels opposed to nuclear energy, Vermont's citizens are also shooting down the very "renewable" projects they speak so fondly of in testimony about energy futures for the state. The NYT reports,
"Vermont has only one commercial wind farm, 11 turbines along a mountain ridge. They have less than 1 percent of the capacity of Vermont Yankee, a relatively small nuclear plant.
Other proposed projects have been stalled by local opposition. One wind project would infringe on bear habitat. Another won approval from state regulators, but a local group filed a court appeal to block it."
The Times points out that the Vermont legislature is still determined to assert its authority over the plants NRC license renewal. Vermont's governor vetoed that last effort along those lines earlier this year. The state's Democratic legislative leadership has occasionally swerved into wing nut mode over Vermont Yankee which raises the question of whether Vermont voters will want to visit that issue at the polls next November.
State starts real energy planning
In the meantime, Vermont is doing some rational thinking about energy with the publication this week of a draft of long term energy plan.
In Vermont the debate over energy is about electricity supply because of the end of current power contracts which comes in 2012. The most significant milestone is the relicensing of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, and then with the massive network of Hydro-Quebec dams.
The first comprehensive energy plan to be drafted since 1998 also deals with issues around other energy needs, including transportation and home heating.
According to the plan half of Vermont's energy use is through the burning of petroleum fuels, including gasoline, diesel and heating oil. About 31 percent of Vermont's energy use - and 25 percent nationally - goes to transportation, the report notes.
Vermont use of energy has grown about 13 percent per capita between 1990 and 2004, while it has increased about 4 percent in New England overall and been stable nationally, according to the report by the Department of Public Service.
A state with energy intensive growth will have to think long and hard whether it wants its economy hobbled by a romantic desire for uncomplicated rural life. Eventually, even if it closes Vermont Yankee, there is always Bruce Power just over the border in Ontario which might be interested in wheeling power to make all that goat cheese.
Idaho Samizdat is a blog about the political and economic aspects of nuclear energy and nonproliferation issues. It covers the nuclear energy industry globally. Additionally, the blog has regional coverage on uranium mining in the western U.S. Link to original post
