The Facts in Iraq are Changing

[LaxRef]

I would agree that nuclear power is certainly a way to go. The French have been doing it safely since the '60s. Nuclear power in the US suffers from two thing dating back to the second half of March 1979: the release of the movie The China Syndrome on 16 March and accident at Three Mile Island twelve days later.

That was quite the publicity stunt.

Nuclear power also suffers from the naive belief that a nuclear power plant can explode like a nuclear bomb.

[laxfan25]

Nuclear power also suffers from the lack of a long-term storage system. There was one under development in Nevada at Yucca Flats, but the locals aren't in favor of it and it appears that some of the research might have been tainted.
Meantime the used core material continues to stack up in the cooling pools at existing plants, packed much tighter together than originally specified, or stored in dry casks. Most of the existing plants were built in the 70's, and as they they will reach the end of their life the plants then need to be disposed of.
Even if Yucaa was operational, transporting the hazardous waste there from around the country would have surely led to large protests from those along the route.
For those that lived through 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl, they understandably have a reluctance to embrace the current technology as the answer. Watching the recent series on the NASA missions, it was a reminder that despite putting our best and brightest on the job and having almost unlimited budgets can still lead to catastrophic and unforeseen failures - simple O-rings being too cold doomed Challengedr and a piece of stryofoam took out Columbia.
There is one solution that can be put into place immediately that seems to be receiving very little play compared to drilling new wells, mining shale oil or putting up some new nukes - that is conservation. Simply driving 55 mph can save 15 - 20% on gasoline. Changing over to CFL's can reduce electricity usage by about 75%! No infrastructure needed, there is no cost to driving a little slower and a lot smarter, the payback for changing lights is very quick and high. How about it? What would a 20 - 25% reduction in demand mean for our situation? Are you willing to do your part in this battle for energy independence?

I still believe that disruptive technology will lead us to the day when we look back in bemusement that we once used oil as our major source of energy.

[jayjaciv]

Simply driving 55 mph

A 55 mph speed limit? What sort of hippy, commie, terrorist president would enact that sort of freedom-hating law?

[Zeuslax]

Changing over to CFL's can reduce electricity usage by about 75%!

Not playing gotcha, just clarifying. 75% savings is comparing CFL's to Edison based bulbs, not whole house energy savings (site).....nor source savings. However, best bang for you buck and a simple technology swap out.

[KnoxVegas]

Now if they only made a CFL that worked on a dimmer switch. Stupid green technology.

[Zeuslax]

Now if they only made a CFL that worked on a dimmer switch. Stupid green technology.

They do. Shot me a PM and I'll give you some product recommendations. There's some really nice can lights that came on the market the past few years too.