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California was one of the first states to enter the [tag-tec]nuclear power[/tag-tec] industry for energy production some 40 years ago. It was also one of the first to have huge debate over the nuclear option which resulted in the shutdowns of several plants and a moratorium of nuclear power plant development in the state.

Now there are signs that nuclear power as an option for power generation in this age of high priced foreign oil and instability of the energy marketplace may be back on the table for discussion.

A bill that is under discussion by the California State legislature would lift that moratorium on new nuclear power plants in California. This would give hopes ot investors lining up to build a [tag-ice]nuclear power plant[/tag-ice] in the central valley of California. The central valley is of course undergoing tremendous population growth in recent years and thus the need for more energy production.

The bill is being carried by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R)-Irvine who says that lifting the moratorium on nuclear plants before the federal government has a permanent storage option for spent fuel rods is necessary to meet the state's demand for power.

Critics however abound in California for this type of proposal. Longtime critics of nuclear power point to the many concerns about nuclear power that originally led to this ban on new plants, such as the lack of long term storage options for spent fuel, concerns over seismic safety.

In a July poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, 39 percent of Californians surveyed said they supported the building of additional nuclear power plants, while 52 percent opposed the idea. A year earlier, the results were 33 percent in support and 59 percent opposed. Opinions have shifted even more dramatically among likely voters. Last summer, that group was split down the middle at 46 percent on each side of the issue. In 2005, the result was 37 percent in support and 55 percent opposed. "The notion of global warming has had all kinds of ripple effects and unintended consequences," said Mark Baldassare, the institute's chief executive officer.

SFGate

"The state must build more nuclear plants for cheap, non-carbon-emitting electricity," said John Hutson, the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group's chief executive. "Or the Legislature needs to provide an alternative. But at this point, there isn't one."

Mr. DeVore's bill has gotten the attention of one mayor who wants to build a nuclear power plant in his city.

"The entire Southern California area is really in a precarious position in terms of energy consumption and energy needs," said Terry Caldwell, mayor of Victorville in San Bernardino County. "And it's only going to get worse before it gets better."

Is this not classic knee jerk reaction to a situation. Let's just forget the last twenty years of nuclear power history and just go with pie in the sky projections that safe storage will fall into our laps anytime soon.

Let's be real, this is a ploy by Republicans to exploit the oil situation in order to get something their constituents want despite the risk to the general population.

Energy Tags: oil, nuclear

What do you believe on Prop 87? Here are some of the latest quotes on it from various sides of the issue. You read them and then tell me what you think. Alternative energy or big oil?

Prop. 87 Gets An F Grade By Marian Bergeson Past President California School Boards Association For many parents, the last couple of weeks have meant the beginning of a new school year - taking kids to the bus stop, packing lunches and buying school supplies. For educators it has meant getting back to the classroom to set them up, planning lessons and meeting a new group of students. Those of us worried about the future of our schools should be concerned about one particular ballot question - Proposition 87 - which not only will impose an oil tax, but would hurt education too. According to California's independent Legislative Analyst, Prop. 87 would decrease state and local tax revenues available for schools and other vital services. In addition, the initiative skirts preexisting education funding requirements contained in the state Constitution, passed nearly two decades ago through Proposition 98.

Editorial: Yes on Prop. 87October 31, 2006 By Editorial Board The Editorial Board urges readers to vote yes on Prop 87. The measure, if passed, would impose a tax on oil production in California. The revenues generated by this tax will be used to fund the development of alternative energy technologies, thus decreasing our dependence on oil, accelerating the adoption of cleaner technologies and improving the environment.

Arguments Against Prop 87 (Oil Severance Tax) Crumble Under Analysis–Even That of a Conservative Economics Professor By Frank D. Russo "Slicker than Oil: The Debate Over California’s Proposition 87" appeared last week on the Applia Econ Blog; News for Econ Students. It is written by Paul Romer, a Stanford professor of economics. He is a Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution, a fairly conservative think tank named after Herbert Hoover. All the more important for his conclusions. His analysis of Proposition 87 shows that it will not increase gas prices (using what he calls an "introductory macroeconomics course" level analysis) and lays to rest the arguments of the oil industry. While he remains neutral with regard to 87, he does say that opponents are totally off base in the main arguments they are making. This is a little of what he has to say: The market for oil is global, and the price of oil is set by global supply and global demand. California produces less than 1% of all the oil produced in the world, so changes of a few percent in its output would be far too small to have a noticeable effect on global supply and demand. Taken together, all the producers in California are in the same position as a single firm in a competitive industry. … Understandably, these producers have raised a lot of funds to support a campaign to oppose the imposition of this new tax. The tax would raise up to $4 billion before it expires, so for oil producers as a group, it makes sense to spend millions of dollars to defeat the tax. What is interesting about the campaign ads that they support is their repeated claim that the tax will raise the price of gasoline. No doubt, their campaign consultants have found that raising this irrelevant issue is the most effective way to get people to vote against this proposition . The article is very short and has only one graph. It is clearly worth a perusal of at least a few minutes to be able to analyze some of the policy issues in this debate. This isn’t the only claim of the oil companies that is showing to be false. They have a record $90 million in their war chest to spend on ads that don't hold up to economic or factual analysis. Take a look at the argument that Proposition 87 will decrease California oil production, which is dealt with in Professor Romer's article. There is now an additional fact in the way of this argument to buttress what the good professor had to say. Chevron basically confirmed that Prop 87 will not reduce California oil production yesterday, in announcing its $5 billion third quarter profits. Chevron's CFO said "we could see at current prices and current production levels a penalty on Chevron in the order of $200 million." Implicit in this admission by Chevron CFO Steven Krowe is that Chevron expects to continue at least the current level of oil production in California after Proposition 87 passes. This is in stark contrast to the oil company ads that claim oil production will decrease in California as a result of Prop. 87. "Today's campaign finance filings showed how much the oil companies have spent on buying endorsements for their sham coalition. Chevron today showed how false No on 87's economic arguments are. The No on 87 campaign was created by and is bankrolled by the oil companies to keep us dependent on the oil they sell. Their coalition and arguments are lies," said Beth Willon, the Yes on 87 Press Secretary. "The oil company puppeteers pulling the No on 87 campaign's strings have finally come out from behind the curtain and exposed the farce that their campaign is."

Prop. 87: Higher Gas Prices, Imported Oil and $4 Billion Open Check Opinion — Jaime Rojas Jr. Would a $4 billion tax on oil produced in California be good for the people of California or bad? That’s the question we’ll decide next month, when we vote on Proposition 87. Proposition 87 does try to take on a serious issue, developing more alternative energy sources – and you won’t find many of us who disagree with that. But the supporters of Proposition 87 chose a lemon of a vehicle to try and reach that goal. Proposition 87 will result in higher gas prices, increased dependence on imported oil, potential budget cuts to local services like public safety. Education leaders say schools will suffer under Proposition 87. “Proposition 87 is double-trouble for our schools. It will reduce state and local revenues to our schools right away, and because it bypasses the constitutional guarantee protecting school funding, it could rob education of $1.9 billion over the next ten years,” said Jose Luis Solache, vice president of the Board of Education of the Lynwood Unified School District in Los Angeles County. Proposition 87 will mean higher gas prices, and make us more dependent on imported oil. Proposition 87 is not a tax on oil company profits or oil companies in general. It’s a tax on oil production in California. Production Goes Down That will mean oil production in California goes down. And for the foreseeable future at least, to make up for that loss, we’ll have to import more oil from overseas. It costs more to get that oil here, and if the oil costs more, the gasoline made from that oil would also cost all of us more of our hard-earned money at the pump. Proposition 87 has no guarantee that we’ll see a dime’s worth of progress on alternative energy for our $4 billion. All that money will be turned over to a new state agency to be run by political appointees (who will be named only after the election), and that agency will only be required to do one thing – spend that $4 billion.

» Link to this article

I personally think that if the oil industry is putting millions of dollars into defeating this measure then it must be worth voting for in the end. What do you think?

The November election in California is days away and the big money is being spent to promote and to fight Prop 87, the so called alternative energy bill that is on the slate this year. The big oil companies are spending 100 million dollars to defeat this proposition. The Yes on 87 fight has some big names on their side. One of whom is actor Robert Redford.

With a smog filled Los Angeles skyline as a backdrop, longtime environmentalist and actor Robert Redford today urged Californians to pass Prop 87 saying they can't let the oil companies continue to do business as usual. "Now is the time for change. It's drastically needed. It's almost too late. The good news is that there are really positive and healthier solutions and that's what Prop 87 is about and that's what people need to know," said Redford. Redford has served for 30 years as a trustee on the Natural Resources Defense Council Board. As a conservationist, Redford was also well ahead of the environmental curve on the future of Yosemite National Park by producing and directing a documentary in 1990. Prop 87 reduces air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by reducing our dependence on dirty foreign oil and developing cleaner, cheaper fuel. "Los Angeles has the worst air in the nation by EPA standards. The problem is that the oil companies want to maintain the status quo for them because it's good for their business. It's not good for your business. It's not good for your economy, or your health, or your safety, or your security. It's good for their bottom line. It's time for that to stop." Redford said.

Robert Redford supports Prop 87. Click here to watch the video.

More resources on alternative energy/air pollution

Acquisition Accelerates Growth and Product Innovation

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov 15, 2006 — SunPower Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based manufacturer of the world's highest-efficiency, commercially available solar cells and solar panels, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire PowerLight Corp., a privately owned solar systems provider based in Berkeley, Calif. PowerLight is a leading global provider of large-scale solar power systems, having designed and deployed hundreds of large-scale solar systems with a total capacity of more than 100 megawatts over the past ten years. The PowerLight acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to SunPower's non-GAAP earnings.(1)

SunPower will be hosting a conference call and webcast at 9:30 am Eastern Standard Time Wednesday, November 15, 2006. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 1-800-894-5910 from within the U.S., or +1-785-424-1052 from outside the U.S. A live webcast of the presentation will be available through SunPower's website at http://investors.sunpowercorp.com/events.cfm .

In North America, PowerLight is the market-leading installer of large, multi-hundred-kilowatt commercial rooftop and ground-mounted solar power plants in California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Hawaii. The company recently began providing complete residential solar system solutions to more than a dozen leading production homebuilders in California. In Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Korea, PowerLight designs, develops, operates and maintains solar electric power plants ranging from one megawatt to more than 10 megawatts, including two of the world's largest solar electric power plants.

"Together, SunPower and PowerLight aim to accelerate the reduction of solar power costs to compete with retail electric rates without incentives," said Tom Werner, SunPower CEO. "PowerLight is one of the premier system integrators worldwide and presents us with a downstream investment opportunity that will accelerate SunPower's revenue growth while meeting our long-term financial model. By working closely with PowerLight over the past year as one of its key suppliers, we have gained great respect for their innovative products and the breadth and depth of their customer relationships. We intend to build on our strong market positions and duplicate our success in other emerging markets."

"We are excited to join forces with the world's leading solar technology company," said Tom Dinwoodie, CEO of PowerLight. "As one of SunPower's largest customers, we have experienced first-hand the powerful leverage that SunPower's high-efficiency solar panels deliver to project economics. We see tremendous synergies between PowerLight's patented system technologies and large-scale solar project expertise and SunPower's high-efficiency solar cell technology and manufacturing discipline. Together we plan to develop the next generation of solar products and solutions that accelerate solar system cost reductions and radically simplify and improve the solar customer experience."

"We believe that substantial growth opportunities lie ahead for our industry as solar system costs become competitive with retail electricity rates market by market over the next decade," said Werner. "That vision will drive the strategy and objectives of our unified company."

The total consideration for the acquisition is $265 million upfront plus a retention carve-out of $67.5 million vesting over 2 to 4 years. The aggregate consideration consists of approximately $130 million in cash and $202.5 million in stock and is expected to result in a tax-free merger for PowerLight's shareholders. The acquisition is expected to accelerate SunPower's revenue growth. SunPower intends to maintain its long-term financial model non-GAAP gross margin objective of 30%.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including approval by PowerLight's shareholders and regulators. The parties anticipate closing the transaction in the first quarter of 2007. Following conclusion of this transaction, the combined company will have approximately 1,600 employees in ten sales offices and four manufacturing locations worldwide.

Lehman Brothers is acting as exclusive financial advisor to SunPower and Jones Day is acting as legal advisor to SunPower with regard to the transaction. Morgan Stanley is acting as exclusive financial advisor to PowerLight and Shearman and Sterling LLP is acting as legal advisor to PowerLight with regard to the transaction.

About SunPower

SunPower Corp. designs and manufactures high-efficiency silicon solar cells and solar panels based on an all-back contact cell design. SunPower's solar cells and panels generate up to 50 percent more power per unit area than conventional solar technologies and have a uniquely attractive, all-black appearance. For more information on SunPower or solar technology, please visit the SunPower website at www.sunpowercorp.com . SunPower is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY).

About PowerLight

PowerLight Corp. is a leading global provider of large-scale solar power systems, delivering unmatched experience and proven financial performance to commercial, public sector and residential customers. Since 1995, PowerLight's industry-leading products, technologies and services have enabled our customers to maximize clean energy output along with project savings. Today, PowerLight designs, deploys and operates the largest solar power systems in the world through market-leading innovation and exceptional customer service. For more information, please visit www.powerlight.com .

DALLAS, Jan. 30, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) (PRIMEZONE) — If you didn't get the chance to hear MN1's interview with Dr. James Latty, CEO of Convergence Ethanol Inc. (OTCBB:CETH), on Monday, Jan. 29, 2007, you can still catch it by downloading the Podcast on www.mn1.com.

The interview starts off with talk about the State of the Union address and some of the important mandates on biorenewable fuels that President Bush proposes.

A 500% increase in ethanol production over the next 10 years.

A 20% reduction of gasoline usage in the next 10 years ago.

And then the importance of the future of ethanol to be produced from things such as wood chips, switch grass etc.

Convergence Ethanol's biorenewable energy project is a woodwaste-to-ethanol refinery in Hearst, Ontario, Canada. The HEO refinery will use modern catalytic processing, as used in oil refineries, to synthetically convert woodwaste into ethanol.

Dr. Latty further discusses the national and global benefits of ethanol and how Convergence Ethanol plans to assist the oil industry in meeting industry goals of providing cost effective, environmentally clean fuels. There is also discussion on completion of a new refinery unit that Convergence Ethanol recently built for Chevron.

For the full interview, visit http://www.mn1.com/mp3/ceth012407.mp3

Ethanol