Alternatives

The question was raised as to whether nuclear power might provide a likely solution. As Downey observed, 50 percent of all electricity in the United States comes from coal and about 20 percent from nuclear, and this percentage is not likely to change much in the near future.

Downey described how the com-pany’s own Wolf Creek Nuclear Gen- erating Station went into service nearly 25 years ago “amidst all sorts of political furor.” Today it is the company’s low-cost operating unit. It operates

24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “It is one of the leading plants in the world and it is a very valuable resource for us,” added Downey. He sees a renewed interest in nuclear around the nation and the world.

Given the negligible carbon footprint of nuclear, Jason Holsman was asked whether energy companies could expect resistance from his ecologically minded colleagues should they choose to pursue nuclear energy.

“I think at this point, yes,” said Holsman. He argued that nuclear was not a long-term viable solution even if it is a cost-effective one. He expressed his preference for wind, solar, hydrogen, and geo-thermal. “We need to continue to expand our horizons when it comes to research and development,” he noted.

On the wind question, Downey acknowledged that its conversion to power is slightly more expensive today than coal’s. A two-cent per kilowatt hour credit from the federal government is now in place to stimulate wind growth. The price of wind should have gone down, Downey observed, but when government starts mandating renewables, it forces up the price for the limited supply of wind. In fact, the entire wind output in the world has already been bought forward for a number of years.

“Wind is part of the solution, but it is not the total solution,” agreed Mike Deggendorf.  To meet President Bush’s 20 percent renewable portfolio standard with wind, he suggested that we would collectively need to produce one wind turbine every fifteen minutes for the next 25 years.

“No matter what we do in the future,” suggested David Warm, “we need new alternatives. We need to in-vest heavily in developing some new choices that we don’t know about today.”

“I think what we’re seeing in some respects is people have decided, ‘Well we want to change,’” said Steve Mc-Dowell. “‘We want to have a cleaner environment. We want to act more responsibly, whether it makes economic sense or not.’”

“Energy efficiency has to be a growing piece of the solution,” added Deggendorf. “That is the key message. In order to meet increasing demand, energy efficiency and renewables must work together.”

Downey spoke of his role on the Mayor’s Task Force in Kansas City. After doing an inventory, the task force’s major initiative to reduce the carbon footprint was to use more green electricity. “The challenge then,” Downey added, “is how do we get there?”

As a first step, Downey noted, “We have got to get beyond the rhetoric, and we have got to get to resolving issues and solving problems.”