Can Pickens’ plan swing sentiment to Obama –- and cleantech?

Pickens has the right idea. I also believe investing in clean energy makes good business sense as well as a wise investment in our planet, our future and our health.

Nuclear power is terribly expensive and dangerous. Storing nuclear waste is a big problem. A typical reactor generates 20 to 30 tons of high-level nuclear waste annually. There is no known way to safely dispose of this waste, which remains dangerously radioactive until it naturally decays. The rate of decay of a radioactive isotope is called its half-life, the time in which half the initial amount of atoms present takes to decay. The half-life of Plutonium-239, one particularly lethal component of nuclear waste, is 24,000 years.

And there is the matter of whether the plants could safely withstand the intensity and frequency of storms and climate changes, earth quakes and such.

According to Mark Hertsgaard, the Nation's environmental correspondent: "he argument against [nuclear energy as way to replace coal and drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions] is that -- separate from any safety or nuclear proliferation concerns, which are substantial -- the main point at this juncture is that nuclear is just wildly expensive and not going to be supported in the marketplace. In fact, economically speaking, if you go nuclear, you make climate change worse, because you can get seven times greater reduction if instead you invest in energy efficiency above all. That is the quickest, cheapest and above all the fastest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And per dollar of investment, you get seven times more reduction in greenhouse gas emission with energy efficiency. So really you if you go nuclear you are making the problem worse because in the real world there is a scarcity of capital, there is only so much to go around, and if you invest it in nuclear, that means you are not going to be investing it in things that are going to be delivering a bigger bang for the buck."

Clean energy is a win-win proposition.

There is a Public Discussion Forum For Pickens Energy Plan : www.pickensenergyplan.com. It would be great if you participate there.