Letter: Setting the record straight on energy

Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.

I cannot allow Marc Jeric's Aug. 26 letter ("Alternative energy not all it's cracked up to be"), so filled with misinformation, to stand without reply. I only take space for four rejoinders, however.

He speaks of the massive amount of government funding that these energy sources have received. If he knew very much about the history of energy development, he would find that nuclear, for one, has received several times more than all of the alternative energies he mentions combined.

Oil and coal have been on the tax benefits' gravy train for quite a while, but this is more hidden by politicians who share Mr. Jeric's philosophy. In fact, the energy policy of President Bush's tenure was set by companies with powerful lobbies, such as oil and coal. Your cheap gasoline is subsidized heavily by all taxpayers and particularly our fighting forces. New "cheap" nuclear plants will require additional federal subsidies if they are to be built in addition to the government-supplied insurance they have always enjoyed.

The costs of solar, wind and geothermal generated power are grossly overestimated in his letter. Wind and geothermal, in particular, are nearly the same cost as our conventionally subsidized energies. Solar is somewhat higher, but on the order of 10 percent of the $2 per kilowatt he notes.

Hydrogen especially draws his wrath. His point that hydrogen takes a factor of four times more energy to generate than it contains is totally false. Also, hydrogen is one of the safest and cleanest fuels in the world. There are many bombs in our modern world that can destruct several city blocks, but they aren't fabricated from hydrogen.

Finally, he says that all of the alternatives are at the minimum environmentally destructive, putting what appears to be the equivalent of death into our atmosphere. All of his favorites are much more environmentally harmful than any of the alternatives. That is true even if you don't believe in global warming.

Robert F. Boehm, Las Vegas

Editor's note: The writer is a professor of mechanical engineering and director of UNLV's Energy Research Center.