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Cooper: "Nuclear War Against The Future" May Delay...But Will Not Stop...The Rise Of Renewables
http://www.nj.com/business/prnewswire/index.ssf?/nj/story/?catSetID=7002&nrid=307892241
Cooper: "Nuclear War Against The Future" May Delay … But Will Not Stop … The Rise Of Renewables, Energy Efficiency, And 21st Century Technology
Expert: Pandering to Nuclear in EPA Clean Power Plan, IL and NY Bailouts of Exelon, and FirstEnergy Reactor Prop-up Plan in OH, Only Postpone the Transformation of the Electricity Sector… at Considerable Expense to Ratepayers.
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 20th Century model of large baseload electricity generation, including nuclear reactors, is in an irreversible decline in the face of the emerging 21st Century decentralized power model relying on renewables, energy efficiency, and technology-based demand management, according to a new report by Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School.
The Cooper report, "Power Shift: The Deployment of a 21st Century Electricity Sector and the Nuclear War to Stop It," is available online at
http://www-assets.vermontlaw.edu/Assets/iee/Power_Shift_Mark_Cooper_June_2015.PDF
For policymakers and ratepayers, Cooper's stark conclusion means that last-ditch efforts to prop-up nuclear power with amendments to the EPA Clean Power Plan, state-level subsidies (e.g., Exelon's "nuclear blackmail" threat of Illinois lawmakers over five reactors in that state and FirstEnergy's bailout scheme involving the Davis-Besse reactor in Ohio), attacks in Indiana, Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina and other states on renewable energy standards, and preferential rate-setting arrangements (e.g., Exelon's Ginna reactor at Rochester, New York) are costly detours on the road to a much more consumer friendly, reliable and sustainable low-carbon electricity sector.
<snip>
The orderly exit of nuclear power is achievable … and necessary. "Given the powerful economic trends operating against nuclear power, the retirement of uneconomic aging reactors and the abandonment of ongoing new reactor construction can be a non-event. An orderly exit from nuclear power is not only possible but crucial to ensure a least-cost, low-carbon future that is economically more beneficial, environmentally more responsible and kinder to consumers and the nation."
<snip>
Cooper: "Nuclear War Against The Future" May Delay … But Will Not Stop … The Rise Of Renewables, Energy Efficiency, And 21st Century Technology
Expert: Pandering to Nuclear in EPA Clean Power Plan, IL and NY Bailouts of Exelon, and FirstEnergy Reactor Prop-up Plan in OH, Only Postpone the Transformation of the Electricity Sector… at Considerable Expense to Ratepayers.
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 20th Century model of large baseload electricity generation, including nuclear reactors, is in an irreversible decline in the face of the emerging 21st Century decentralized power model relying on renewables, energy efficiency, and technology-based demand management, according to a new report by Mark Cooper, senior fellow for economic analysis, Institute for Energy and the Environment, Vermont Law School.
The Cooper report, "Power Shift: The Deployment of a 21st Century Electricity Sector and the Nuclear War to Stop It," is available online at
http://www-assets.vermontlaw.edu/Assets/iee/Power_Shift_Mark_Cooper_June_2015.PDF
For policymakers and ratepayers, Cooper's stark conclusion means that last-ditch efforts to prop-up nuclear power with amendments to the EPA Clean Power Plan, state-level subsidies (e.g., Exelon's "nuclear blackmail" threat of Illinois lawmakers over five reactors in that state and FirstEnergy's bailout scheme involving the Davis-Besse reactor in Ohio), attacks in Indiana, Ohio, Nevada, North Carolina and other states on renewable energy standards, and preferential rate-setting arrangements (e.g., Exelon's Ginna reactor at Rochester, New York) are costly detours on the road to a much more consumer friendly, reliable and sustainable low-carbon electricity sector.
<snip>
The orderly exit of nuclear power is achievable … and necessary. "Given the powerful economic trends operating against nuclear power, the retirement of uneconomic aging reactors and the abandonment of ongoing new reactor construction can be a non-event. An orderly exit from nuclear power is not only possible but crucial to ensure a least-cost, low-carbon future that is economically more beneficial, environmentally more responsible and kinder to consumers and the nation."
<snip>
