Plan D

Plan D is switching to a nuclear/hydrogen economy.

This plan comprises two major concepts:

• Transition power plants away from fossil fuel plants to nuclear plants, supported by geothermal, hydro, and tidal harness power generation.
• Transition vehicles away from fossil fuels to hydrogen- or hydrogen-alternate power plants, or direct electrical power.

The reality of modern living is that we cannot continue to exist in an economy based on fossil fuel usage, nor can we reasonably expect most alternate energy systems to be able to meet our current needs. Similarly, the belief that it would be possible to force a world full of self-centered, narcissistic individuals to give up their current lifestyles in order to reduce their energy consumption to the level where resources would remain viable is, to put it nicely, naive.

Solar power currently requires more energy to produce panels than they will repay in their lifetimes, and will continue to be as such unless radical improvements in technology are made in short order (There is some possibility of this - ultrablack nanotube cells show potential, but are still at least several decades away and there is no guarantee that they will be viable). Hydro, geothermal, wind, and tidal power all provide excellent sources of electricity production, but due to limitations on location, variable output, and potential damage to the environment in their own right, they cannot be relied upon to provide a majority of our energy requirements, especially when the needs of vehicles are taken into account.

Nuclear power on the other hand offers us a simple, safe, and reliable solution to the problem of providing power needs without reducing the standard of living for the individual - in fact, the reduction of pollution in the atmosphere has the potential to greatly improve quality of life for many.

The United States currently draws approximately 20% of its energy needs from nuclear power; Canada approximately 8%. While this means that for Canada there is a larger amount of ground to cover, for the US the goal is relatively reachable within a 35 year period. If the US establishes 4 equivalent plants for every 1 plant currently producing electrical power, the US would be able to fulfill its energy grid requirements. An additional plant for each existing plant currently would provide an excess of power, which can be used to meet the needs of the second phase of Plan D, the removal of dependence on fossil fuels for vehicle power.

Initially, vehicles fitted with hydrogen fuel cells could be fueled by hydrogen generated by splitting water with the additional power output of the energy grid. This would effectively create clean hydrogen production, transitioning the energy potential of the nuclear stations to hydrogen fuel for vehicles. Of course, there are many potential risks in using stored hydrogen as fuel, not to mention the additional weight of the storage units for vehicles - fortunately there are safe alternatives coming in which the energy is not used to split water to create a store of dangerous hydrogen, but simply to turn boron oxide back into boron, for reuse with plain, safe water.

Concerned about nuclear safety? Cautious of Chernobyl? More to come on allaying these fears, but the short version is, don't let Russians play around with anything more complicated than a go-cart.