OntheWilderSide

IEER | Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy
by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. A Joint Project of the Nuclear Policy Research Institute and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research IEER Press and RDR Books, 2007 257 pages, paperback

Only Plan to Address Scientists’ Call to Eliminate C0₂ Emissions

Nuclear Power Not Required to Stop Global Warming

As new scientific studies conclude that slowing global warming will require an end to carbon emissions within a few decades, a recently-published book offers the only detailed plan for how the U.S. can end reliance on fossil fuels without sacrificing economic growth and without the risks of nuclear power.Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy is the first to show how a reliable, cost-effective system can be based on sources that do not emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases without recourse to nuclear power plants. Among its recommendations:

• Enact a limit on carbon dioxide emissions by large users of fossil fuels that steadily declines to zero
• Ban new coal-fired plants unless they include reliable carbon capture and storage
• Eliminate all subsidies and tax breaks for fossil fuels, nuclear power and biofuels from food crops.
• Build model energy plants using solar thermal, solar photovoltaic and microalgae carbon capture.
• Leverage government procurement to create markets for new technologies such as plug-in hybrids
• Create stringent energy efficiency standards for appliances, transportation and buildings

Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland, is the book’s author. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he specialized in nuclear fusion and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Among his book’s recommendations:

“Continuing on a ‘business as usual’ path is unacceptable, as other experts have made clear,” Dr. Makhijani explained. “The approaches outlined in my book are all technologically feasible and economically viable today or could be made so within a decade by sound government and private investment. Nuclear power, on the other hand, entails risks of proliferation, terrorism and serious accidents. The United States can lead the world to a fully renewable, efficient energy economy, which can be achieved in 30 to 50 years.”

Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free is published by RDR Books and IEER Press. The book was the result of a joint project of Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Policy Research Institute.. Review copies are available on request. The text is also posted on the web at http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/CarbonFreeNuclearFree.pdf and can be downloaded free. [PDF 4.4MB]
Download the book [Large file, PDF 4.4 MB] Download is free, donations are welcome

Purchase the paperback ($19.95, or $27.95 to addresses outside US/Canada/Mexico)

Sign on to the Statement of Principles to Achieve a Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free U.S. Energy System by 2050

Summaries:

Executive Summary [PDF 450 kB]

Executive Summary: Special issue of Science for Democractic Action [PDF 2.43MB] and in our international newsletter, Energy and Security, No. 39, in Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish.

Summary in four pages [PDF 200kB], updated June 2, 2008.

Summary in Slides [PDF 1.7MB]

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