Is energy supply more important than Climate Change?

This morning I was listening to one of my favorite podcast by Rod Adams where they discussed a letter send to Dr. John P. Holdren recommending the push of nuclear power. This letter is cosigned by an impressive list of people and one of them caught my eye, since he his from Québec, where I live.

H. Douglas Lightfoot, Mechanical Engineer (Ret.), MBA Member of Global Environ-mental and Climate Centre (GEC3), McGill University. Author of Nobody‘s Fuel DVD.

So I was curious about this gentlemen and found his web site Nobody‘s Fuel.   Here's the intro you can find on it.

"I am concerned about people, the environment and climate change. I’ve used my skills and experience to create a workable response to these concerns. Nobody’s Fuel—Energy supply is more important than climate change is not just something to say. It’s a statement backed by science.

We need lots of energy to:
1. Lift poor nations out of poverty
2. Maintain the well-being of everyone on Earth
3. Adapt to climate change
4. Protect the environment

Without adequate energy, the trees we all enjoy will be burned to heat people’s houses and the environment will be destroyed. As the climate changes, and it is always warming or cooling, we must have adequate energy to allow us to adapt to climate change, and help others to do so.

He has made a DVD video I just bought about the need to push more nuclear energy for the better of mankind.

Here's some video clips of the DVD



Here a copy of his plan:

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Nobody's Fuel Energy Supply Plan (ESP)

Objectives:
1. Promote nuclear generation of electricity to your neighbours, colleagues and elected representatives.

2. Produce all electricity by nuclear energy and use electricity everywhere we can, for example for:

1. railroads
2. heating of homes and cooking
3. public transportation

3. Reserve liquid fuels for road and air transport, i.e., gasoline from oil, tar sands, and coal because there are no substitutes on the scale required. How?

1. convert home heating from oil to electricity—you will have to do it eventually as oil and natural gas become scarce
2. coal is more valuable converted to liquid fuels than burned to generate electricity—replace with nuclear
3. convert large ships to nuclear power

4. Replace the current nuclear reactors with fast breeder reactors to ensure nuclear fuel for tens of thousands of years. This will take decades—we must start now.

5. Practice conservation as you see it. How? Maintain your comfort, security and safety levels but:

1. turn off lights, TVs, and computers when not required
2. reduce hot water use (but maintain good health control)
3. walk or ride a bicycle if it makes sense
4. recycle waste and items no longer needed
5. use public transportation where it makes sense
6. buy a fuel efficient car

6. Use energy as efficiently as possible. How?

1. use “Energy Star” appliances
2. use low energy light bulbs
3. install programmable thermostats
4. use motion detector lights
5. upgrade house insulation, windows, and weather stripping
6. maintain your car as recommended
7. promote energy efficiency initiatives

7. Promote renewable energies where they make sense—they are much too small to replace fossil fuels, but can help extend fossil fuel reserves.

8. Construct electricity generating and distribution systems robustly and with excess capacity. As fossil fuels become scarce, they will be replaced with nuclear generated electricity except in road and air transport. We have all seen blackouts caused when the system approaches its maximum capacity.

Results:
Positive results can be obtained for every person on earth if the ESP is pursued vigorously and the objectives are met. These include:

1. Lifting poor nations out of poverty
2. Maintaining the well-being of everyone
3. Adapting to climate change
4. Protecting the environment
5. Reducing carbon emissions to acceptable levels

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We, the "Bâtisseur de nations" talked about those same issues in a conference in March 2009 in St-Jérôme, Québec. You can view the whole conference online here.