“But there are existing technologies, if we have the will power to – one year at a time – replace the coal, the oil and the nuclear power.”
“We have a little bit of that going in the electric power field, where California and many other states are gradually increasing the percentage of renewal. But it is moving at a snail’s pace. And it’s through the regulatory system, where the enforcement is a bit lax.”
“Mother nature doesn’t know about the lack of enforcement. The problem is, we have a family doctor – the climatologist – telling us that in this decade, we need to get carbon under control.”
“On nuclear power, just read the papers – Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Fukushima. We have a fleet of old nuclear power plants that are radioactive factories that are now over 30 years old. And we are just running the risk that we are going to have Fukushimas all over the world in coming years.”
“And we have the technology to replace them.”
“I have been at this for a long time. I was once in favor of nuclear power because of the air pollution from coal. And we didn’t have alternatives. But now we do.”
“Ask your children – what would you choose – a bunch of solar panels or a radioactive factory?”
“It’s a no-brainer for somebody who is not an energy expert – for an ordinary citizen.”
“Of course you are not going to take a one in a million chance of killing millions of people and wiping out a big chunk of America. Why take that risk? The marketplace won’t take that risk.”
“It’s not a hard decision to make that from now on we ought to focus on making energy from what mother nature gives us free of charge – the wind and the sun.”
As for electric cars, Freeman has an idea.
“The utilities ought to own the batteries,” he says. “They can store electricity in the batteries in the car. And it helps firm up the power system.”
I would own the electric car, but the utility owns the battery in my car?
“Right,” Freeman says. “The price of the electric car goes down from $25,000 to $15,000. And people start buying them in droves.”
The batteries cost $10,000?
“Yes, the batteries are very expensive.”
What’s the incentive for the utility to own the battery?
“They are going to sell a lot more electricity,” Freeman says. “It’s a big new market. It’s a huge market. And they can make money on electricity to drive the car. And then they can also use the battery to store power in the hours that the car is not running. And it fits in nicely to the electric system. And they amortize them as they do their power plants over a long period of time.”
“It’s a way of getting the electric car business booming. And it makes sense. The batteries have a dual purpose. They run the car, but they are part of the storage system that the utilities are going to need in the future with an all renewable electric system.”
[For the complete question./answer format Interview with S. David Freeman, see 26 Corporate Crime Reporter 9, February 27, 2012,print edition only.]
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/02/24/how-to-phase-out-nuclear-coal-and-oil-in-25-years/
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Monday, February 27, 2012 at 2:25PM 
