The White-Knuckle Worries about Japan and Nuclear Problems

As a terrified and grief-stricken Japan begins to rebuild, questions about what can be learned from this terrible tragedy are beginning to be assessed in our own country. The matter of nuclear power plant safety in America is slowly becoming a talking point of many U.S. politicians worried about issues similar to those Japan is facing after the quake.

Democratic Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts has recently called into question the practicality of building a nuclear power plant in states prone to earthquakes. "We just have to call a time-out and examine whether or not those safety features necessary in the future are built into new nuclear power plants in our country," said Markey, who sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The question of nuclear power safety even reaches farther than just earthquake-prone territories, according to politicians like Senator John Kerry. “We clearly need to have a new generation of safer, more fail-safe plants if any are going to be built,” said the former presidential candidate in comments quoted on Politico. “Obviously this is going to go through a much greater scrutiny. It ought to. There’ll be a much tougher standard. There ought to be. Whether there’s any at all,” he added.

So as the fallout from Japan continues to be assessed and U.S. leaders begin to make plant safety an issue, people are asking: Is nuclear power worth it? With more than 70 percent of carbon-free energy in the United States estimated to be coming from nuclear power, we’ve clearly made nuclear energy a staple of alternative energy in America. But are we doing enough to protect ourselves, and should we continue down our current path of nuclear investment?

On April 8, the Commonwealth Club's Climate One series will hold a program on the viability of nuclear energy in California. "Nuclear Power: More, Less or the Status Quo" will examine if nuclear power is worth it for California and discuss viable options to improving it if it is.

Also join us for a discussion on green energy solutions other than nuclear power on April 5. Duke of Energy and Energy Policy: What's Next? will give a closer look at what’s next in the green sector. Learn what is possible and get an insider's look at what the future might hold for America’s energy needs.

–By James Dohnert

Shai Agassi: A Better Model?

Shai Agassi (left in video) talks with Greg Dalton, Climate One director and vice president of The Commonwealth Club, about making electric cars a reality.

Offshore Drilling on the Hot Seat

News analysis, by Allison Vale

In the minds of millions of Americans, offshore drilling has been an issue of patriotism, a politically charged declaration of our independence from foreign oil and not an issue of environmental protection. Survey after survey has shown that a big majority of Americans agree that relying on foreign oil is bad and energy independence is good. But differences arise when people are confronted with the challenge of just how we’re going to achieve energy independence and what is the best source of energy to replace foreign oil.

Enter a catastrophe of epic proportions, also known as the oil that continues to seep into the Gulf of Mexico. It may just prove to be the one of the worst spills in United States history. As a result, new surveys are showing Americans re-evaluating their affection for offshore oil drilling, and politicians have begun distancing themselves from the idea.

Balancing Carbon Reduction and Economic Growth

The poorest people of the world will undoubtedly be affected the most by climate change and the current global economic crisis, according to Kathy Sierra, the vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank. Ironically, climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor in developing countries, who even though they have done the least to cause it, are the least prepared to deal with it and will suffer the soonest and perhaps the most from it, she told The Commonwealth Club’s Climate One audience this past Tuesday.

In conversation with The Club’s Climate One Director Greg Dalton and Awais Khan, the director of KPMG’s Clean Tech Venture Capital Practice, Sierra outlined the new dual mandate of the World Bank: help the world’s poor and simultaneously confront global climate change issues. In short, she said, successful global carbon reduction and economic growth, inextricably linked, will require “finance, technology, partnerships and a new way of thinking about development.”
When Dalton asked how the current financial crisis is affecting the work of the World Bank, Sierra responded, “It is harder now, because there is less capital out there.”

Sierra responded to queries about the bank’s mission and it major accomplishments by explaining how the bank seeks to get “knowledge out there, bring together different financial flows, and create partnerships.” She said the World Bank is strongly urging developing nations -- including India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa -- to consider the changes that need to be made to reduce their carbon footprint and create better energy efficiency. She cited Mexico as an example of where climate change is being tackled aggressively. With a loan from the World Bank, Mexico is transforming urban transport, working on its rapid-bus mass transport system to get cars off the road and implement a lower emissions bus system. She noted that if they are successful there, other Latin American countries will surely take their lead and consider that those solutions might work for them as well.

Sierra lauded the efforts of Turkey as a leader in sustainable energy development. She said that Turkey is very interested in meeting European standards and that the World Bank is working closely with it to introduce smart grids and other energy-saving advancements.

Khan added that the private sector supplements World Bank efforts by looking at attractive technologies and commercializing them. He described some of the most promising energy-saving technologies currently being funded by Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists: the electric car in China, waste management technologies, and plastics recycling. “However,” he added, “the World Bank is more active than we think in Silicon Valley.” He emphasized how closely the bank must work with the governments of countries to implement change of any kind. When asked what corporations can do to help lower negative environmental emissions, Khan responded, “they can do a lot.” He used Nike as an example of a company that has pulled back from regions of the world where energy standards are lower.

With its new climate-change agenda, Sierra said the World Bank is taking more risks. She said that many developing countries, as well, are now more likely to take risks because they want diversified energy portfolios.

Knowledge, partnerships and financial packages are crucial to orchestrating the critical changes the World Bank believes need to take place. “Part of our collective job is to get the cleanest technologies in place,” Sierra said. “Our mission at the World Bank is not just to help countries do no harm, but to help them get on the right path and move toward cleaner energy solutions. It’s already happening in wind and geothermal. ... The big challenge now is how to scale it up. It’s very expensive, time-consuming -- and complicated -- but do-able. ... Carbon credits and microfinancing, this is where the world is going.”

With 1.6 billion people in developing countries living without access to electricity, Sierra said that those countries’ leaders are more motivated than ever to provide their citizens with electricity. Moving to cleaner energy will be attractive to them, especially if there is financing and technology available. Helping these countries to get on this low-carbon growth path is key to sustainable development and poverty reduction and, therefore, key to the mission of the World Bank.

--Commonwealth Club Media and Public Relations Department

Driving Toward Sustainability

The Bay Area's transportation sector delivers some 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air annually. Auto emissions are, at once, driving global warming and assaulting public health on a number of fronts. But most of the pollution involved – into the air from the car – is not from the tail pipe, it's from the mining and the manufacturing associated with the car.

Former oil industry analyst-turned activist, Jan Lundberg of Culture Change says that the kinds of amelioration being talked about and offered are woefully inadequate: "We should just get rid of car dependency."

Dan Sperling, founding director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, and a board member of the California Air Resources Board, will address what he says are the needed changes at The Commonwealth Club of California tonight. According to Sperling, by 2020, the number of cars on the planet will double to 2 billion. He says that big changes need to be made to our cars, fuels and personal habits. This is especially challenging if we're going to rein in our bloated carbon footprint enough to achieve a return to 350 parts per million, as urged by Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and End of Nature.

Michael Gelobter helped develop the nation's only peer-reviewed carbon calculator, will address the issue at this year's Compostmodern design conference for environmentalists.

"A lot of our relationship with climate change and fossil fuels has to do with the built environment, the designed environment – our cities, buildings, schools and the way we design our day-to-day interactions with products," Gelobter told me. "All of those include assumptions about energy use, where we get the energy and the form that energy comes in." Even though he's a climate strategist, Galopter is optimistic and sees great opportunity in the future.

Can we break the cycle of "shock and trance?" Join energy expert Sperling at The Commonwealth Club as he reveals what is at stake if we refuse to move quickly, and what opportunities exist if we act now.

Energy Pick Gets Rave Reviews, Yet Much Work Lies Ahead

CHU: 'COAL IS MY WORST NIGHTMARE'

After years of perceived scientific neglect at the upper rings of government, President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Nobel-winning physicist Steven Chu to lead the Department of Energy is drawing high marks, or as one blogger wrote, "I'm on board the Chu Chu train."

Praise for Chu's selection has been effusive. Joe Romm at Climate Progress called him "a great choice," as did Andrew Revkin on The New York Times blog Dot Earth. Brad Johnson at Think Progress' Wonk Room blog called him "a singular addition to Obama's Cabinet" and a posting from Science magazine also lays out how Chu might change the department.

The appointment brings both the prestige of the scientific world's highest honor along with adding an Asian-American to Obama's diverse cabinet.

Since last Friday, when word of possible candidates for the job began to leak, the name of Chu was little-known among big names who campaigned vigorously for Obama such as Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel and former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. The choice shows a willingness by the incoming administration to address climate and energy issues confronting the country.

During a 2005 speech at The Commonwealth Club, Chu said national security has become synonymous with energy security and the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. is threatened by global warming. (Click here to listen the speech.)

“I believe this energy issue is the center of all of these concerns," said Chu, "thus, I think it is the single most important societal problem that science has to solve. There is no magic bullet to this problem.”

Traditionally, the role of the energy secretary has primarily focused on nuclear energy and weapons issues rather than the conservation and alternative energy programs Chu favors.

The lack of administrative experience on the scale of the Department of Energy's $25 billion budget and 14,000 employees has been one major argument for some detractors. Former New Jersey governor and head of the Environmental Protection Agency Christine Todd Whitman has cautious words for the appointee saying, "It's a big leap from the academic world to the administrative world."

A Wall Street Journal piece from today also reveals Chu's aversion to coal and the need to develop methods for clean-coal.

Comments Chu made during a lecture at Cornell University last April on the need for regulations to curb carbon emission will not endear him to conservatives.

"Free market forces aren't going to do this. You really need a combination of fiscal policies and downright regulations, and it has to be international. And above all, we need to put a price on carbon without any loopholes. People in the U.S. especially are working very hard to keep it below $20 per ton -- and then have additional loopholes -- because at that price you actually don't have to change anything."

Blogger Matthew Yglesias put a damper on the appointment of Chu; while lauding it, he also believes the position offers the chance at little but a "bully pulpit." Also, at the same posting an interesting video of Chu is offered.

Chu, 60, was both congenial and lighthearted during the question and answer segment of his Commonwealth Club speech on solving the world energy crisis.

He reflected on his denial to both Princeton and Yale after graduation as a being "the best thing to happen to him" and displayed sharp, self-deprecating humor when describing his mother's feelings about winning the Nobel Prize in 1997.

“It gained me some respect in my family, but not in my mother’s eyes. She still can’t figure out why my oldest brother—he’s the one with the most degrees—and so my mother, who is getting along in the years, is still trying to figure out why didn’t Gilbert get the Nobel Prize. Why did Steven get the Nobel Prize? So, she’s finally come to the solution that Steven must be better at the politics of getting something like that. So, you can’t win.”

Wonder what Mother Chu is thinking today?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Global Warming

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tells The Commonwealth Club that people need to take a serious look at the global warming problem.