A Tribute to President Jimmy Carter

 

President Carter is currently under hospice care. Before it is all too late and rendered moot by life's irreversible course, I want to express my appreciation for the man who is an inspiration to me. 

Dear President Carter,

 

I was a chemistry graduate student in 1978 when I first heard your call for a moral equivalent of war to gain energy independence, in the wake of oil embargoes by OPEC. Caricaturists called this your “meow” moment. It was more a “roar” to me, and I enlisted as a foot soldier in your army in this “moral equivalent of war.” I worked most of my career on energy-related issues: at first the problem was rather simple. We lacked liquid fuels to meet our transportation needs, but we had plenty of coal. Coal had been converted to liquids. 

 

The technology for liquefying coal was developed in early twentieth century in Germany, but it was very expensive. It was also deployed by Germany during the war and later by South Africa to mitigate international sanctions, but the costs needed to come down substantially for coal-derived liquids to compete with oil in a free economy. The energy challenge has since become a whole lot tougher with the recognition of the climate change engendered by burning fossil fuels for energy. Today, we seek energy from sources that are also environmentally benign and compatible with the goals of sustainability.

 

Working in the field of energy made me acutely aware of the looming energy crisis humanity is facing, and the need for an informed public debate on the choices we have to make. About fifteen years ago, I joined my colleagues Hew Crane and Ed Kinderman to write a book that could be a citizens’ guide to energy. Admittedly, energy is a difficult subject to discuss, but it is made even more so by the plethora of units and mind numbing multipliers of billions, trillions, and quadrillions.

 

While waiting in the gas lines in 1973, Hew had come to the realization that annual global consumption of oil was then approaching one cubic mile, and a cubic mile of oil seemed to be a good unit to describe energy from all sources. At a conference in January 2016, physicist Amory Lovins brought to my attention that you had arrived at a similar conclusion, but that as a navy man he preferred cubic nautical miles. I did some searching of old documents from your days in the White House and came across a memo dated April 18, 1977, by Stu Eizenstat converting barrels to cubic miles. There were also some hand scribbled calculations on the page, probably by you. The thought made a tingle ran up my spine. 

 

Energy is not the only area in which you have inspired me. Your moral rectitude and tireless pursuit of social justice have been just as inspiring. Your efforts at resolving conflicts, promoting peace through free and fair elections, and fighting diseases are all laudable. The way you have dedicated your life to public service after the presidency stands as a shining example of how to live out one’s retirement.

 

Wishing you comfort and peace in your remaining days.

 

Testimony in supprt of Colorado SB23-70: Classify Nuclear Power as Clean Energy

 

My name is Ripudaman Malhotra, and I am retired scientist with over 36 years of experience in research on the chemistry of energy conversion at SRI International, Menlo Park, CA. This work made me acutely aware of the looming global energy crisis. To improve the quality of life we must double the energy supply, particularly in the form of electricity. However, more than 80% of the energy currently comes from fossil fuels, whose use is directly responsible for the global climate change.

 

Reducing CO₂ emissions is essential for mitigating climate change as well as ocean acidification that threatens our food supply. On a life-cycle basis, nuclear power has the lowest emissions and the smallest environmental footprint to build and operate. Per DoE analsyes, wind and solar plants require ten to fifteen time more of commodity materials like steel, glass, concrete, and copper. Procuring these at the required rates will require encroaching wild habitats.

 

Nuclear power also the best safety record, especially in terms of fatalities for a given amount of energy delivered. These attributes make nuclear energy ideal for decarbonizing our energy system. Indeed, countries like France and Sweden that have succeeded in deeply decarbonizing their energy supply, have relied heavily on nuclear power.

 

As we electrify our transport system, promote self-driving vehicles, electrify home appliances, and expand cloud computing services, we will need ever increasing supplies of clean energy. Nuclear energy can fulfill this need. Yet, instead of building nuclear plants we are prematurely closing them down, often a result of policies designed to promote “renewable energy.” Scientifically speaking, none of the sources of energy are “renewable.” Energy does not renew itself; it is always dissipated. Because “renewable” sources are intermittent, we currently back them up with natural gas plants. As we transition away from fossil fuels, we will have to use batteries or other storage technologies that will raise the cost and life-cycle emissions of “renewables.” By relying on wind and solar, we would be making our energy more reliant on climate at a time when the climate is undergoing major changes. In contrast, nuclear power is reliable and always dispatchable.

 

“Renewable” sources qualify for financial incentives such as investment and production tax credits (ITC and PTC), and renewable energy certificates (REC). Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) give priority to renewables forcing other plants to ramp down when they are plentiful (such as at high noon). These policies distort the market and unduly handicap baseload power plants like nuclear, forcing their closures. By classifying nuclear as a clean source, which it is, will allow nuclear power to access these incentive programs, thus forestalling premature shuttering and promoting its expansion.

 

If permitting is streamlined for developing small modular reactors, these walk-away safe nuclear plants would be the cheapest source of electricity. Some of the new designs also offer the possibility of using the “waste” nuclear fuel, currently being stored in dry concrete casks at nuclear power plants. We should be treating this “waste” as the resource it actually is.

 

There are hundreds of coal-fired power plants in the US that could be retrofitted with these modular reactors. These shuttered or soon to be shuttered power plants are already connected to the grid and have most of the workforce at hand. They offer a quick path to expanding the use of clean nuclear power.

 

I therefore urge that the Senate adopt SB23-079 and classify nuclear power as “clean power.”

 

Respectfully,

Ripudaman Malhotra