, with his ethanol powered saab, has already shown us what kind of clue he possesses with respect to sustainability.

Conventional nuclear energy is essentially free from CO2 emissions

key weasel word highlit.

i'd really like to see the EU w-a-y more progressive on energy, and so far i think we're being very short-sighted, and the usual suspects are working overtime to spin nuclear for the people to swallow, extending and prolonging the old paradigm for grid technology.

i do appreciate how much better our attitudes here in yurp for truly sustainable energy (especially regarding farming and alternative electricity supply) are than in certain other quarters of the globe, but i suspect nuclear is really a red herring.

the energy moguls want a centralised grid, while they enrich their media friends with endless greenwashing ads that do not convince anyone, in fact raise another generation of young people who have to learn the hard way how many lies they eat with their media cornflakes every day.

that way, people will argue about nuclear, while coal slides in as default...

similar to an argument i'm listening to on foxy news from one clown who's pointing to the ethanol 'boondoggle' (his word), and using that as (il)logical lever to justify drilling in Alaska, and off the coasts (and some of the prettiest, highest-valued coast).

these people are fossil fools, and if it weren't for progress in intelligent solutions such as those promulgated by Our Founder, i would probably check out from europe...again....

these spin doctors will tie themselves in knots trying to sell us what they believe will profit them the most, the longest.

as for italy, one look at naples right now should tell anyone all they need to know as to whether this country has a responsible attitude to governance, or respect for the environment.

damn, it's sad sometimes to see what were up against, we who believe that nuclear power rollout to try and sustain these chaotically, pathologically greedy, wasteful and racist energy and transport policies we debate so thoroughly here at ET, would be a gigantically, titanically retrogressive step for humanity.

in fact the metaphor (tho' inexact and inverted!), cervantes used for don quixote of windmills, was strangely prescient...it does seem quixotic to try and face off against a multibillion dollar-powered set of lying interests, just like anyone trying to point out the folly of the hedge funds ponzi schemes a few years ago might have felt.

at least the statues at easter island are noble looking, in a silly kind of way.

old nuke plants, not so much.

look at china's growth with solar, and wonder why they are growing so much faster than we are in the west.

the only reason i can see for that is that vested interests there have less ability to buy politicians, anyone show me a better one? ( i know they're going coal'n'nuke in a big way too).

besides they take too long to build, even if they weren't evil for so many other reasons, we're out of time.

meanwhile i expect the media saturation about rosy nuke futures to amp up, proportionately to every working windfarm that gets up and running.

monster windplants are great, but we need to think about decentralising the grid, and putting power production closer to consumption.

the 'iron laws' of economics come down in favour of it, after all, or will inevitably, after enough people realise that their taxes would be better invested in incentivising smaller-scale, decentralised grid technology.

the amount spent on the media will be astronomical, and could much better be invested in promoting wind and solar.

2c

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty