Are you saying Fukushima never would have happened if there was not a tsunami? Hurricanes would not be ablet to damage a nuclear power plant enough? Tornadoes can't either? How about earthquakes?

I heard quite a few tymes the Fukushima disaster could never happen in the US because the US did not use it's design. Well golly there are 23 that do use it in the US.

Falcon

It wasn't all of a sudden. From the wiki article:
Drought, delays in approval of new power plants,[6] and market manipulation decreased supply. This caused 800% increase in wholesale prices from April 2000 to December 2000.

TFA also says partial deregulation legislation passed in 1996. There were at least 2 years between when legislation was signed and when the crisis started. However I guess you never had to suddenly start using AC. When everyone suddenly turns their AC on there is a sudden demand for energy. And yes, I am saying the CA government is responsible for the crisis. It interfered in a market and that usually causes unpleasant things to happen. When people are not concerned about how much they have to pay for something they will not be conservative in it's use. But those who sell have to pay for what they do sell, and if the price they pay is higher than what they can sell for that is bad for them, and everyone else involved.

A door the CA government created with bad regulations. Notice I said "bad regulations", I am not against totally regulations, especially when there is a government created monopoly, such as energy distribution. I am okay with splitting the ownership of generating capacity with the ownership of the power cables, and pipes, that provide the energy. I favor regulations or laws requiring whoever owns the cables to allow independent energy producers to tap into the cables. If I have the money and I want to build a wind farm, I want to be able to tap into the electrical grid. And as long as I can do so safely I should be allowed to. Same goes for solar farms, tidal generators, and geothermal power plants.

Falcon

What happened in CA was not deregulation, can't you read? And understand what you did read? Not allowing energy sellers to raise prices is regulating energy. Not allowing companies to own generators and distribute that energy is regulating energy. Of course that does not make sense to nincompoops. Requiring seller to sell at below cost is regulating. It's not hard to understand.

Falcon

From that webpage: "The culprit seems to be sudden drops in air pressure that create internal hemorrhaging, but the precise cause is still a mystery." And: "Collisions are evidently a problem as well, though to what extent is also still unclear."

Sudden drop in pressure? Well I can partially understand that, my own ears pop when pressure drops. So perhaps siting wind genies can take bats into account. Another possibility is having sound generators around genies that repels bats. Play the sounds at night. Of course treehuggers offers their own suggestion, to shut down genies on nights when the wind is low.

However apparently coal mining also harms bats. Here's a.pdf titled Salazar Announces Guidelines to Protect Endangered Indiana Bat from Surface Coal Mining Impacts. Of course those are in Indiana. Well also apparently there's an Indiana bat, that's in West Virginia: Coal Mining in West Virginia: Guidelines for Protecting the Indiana Bat (Myotis sodalis) [.pdf]. And what of bats' habitat, isn't mining destroying it?

So the question as regards bats are concerned then is, which is worse for bats, coal fired power plants or wind generators?

Falcon

Why do you focus on one "primary energy source" instead of using different sources? I want solar where appropriate, wind where appropriate, and geothermal where appropriate. I also want government to stop all energy subsidies.

Guess what? Someone above provided this , External Costs of Coal Plants, however I already have this: International Institute for Sustainable Development’s Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI). Energy Subsidies Favor Fossil Fuels Over Renewables. And of course there's this:
Nuclear power is Hooked on Subsidies
"How do France (and India, China and Russia) build cost-effective nuclear power plants? They don’t. Governmental officials in those countries, not private investors, decide what is built. Nuclear power appeals to state planners, not market actors."

Coal and other fossil fuels are massively subsidized. As is nuclear power. Here's Rep Edward Markey bragging My Climate Bill 'Has Huge Subsidies For Clean Coal! Huge!' . Oops, it appears the video is not there now. At least it's not playing for me when it used to. In the video though he says coal, nuclear power, and corn based ethanol get Billions of dollars each in subsidies.

Falcon

Same here. I can't make up my mind whether a wind gennie looks better off the coast, in the middle of a prairie, or on a mountain top. They all look awesome.

Falcon

As shown by the number of people who believe in Creationism, er Intelligent Design, and believe macro-evolution does not happen a bunch of people don't know or believe in science.

Falcon

While partially correct most people do not know the state government actually caused the crisis. I think it's very telling saying "capped retail electricity prices" was part of the problem. Most people who want government regulation use the CA energy crisis, if it is used, as an example of why deregulation cause problems. They are dead wrong about that. CA did not deregulate energy, all the state did was change the regulations. Owning both electrical generation and the distribution of that electricity was made illegal. Then people were able to choose the retail sellers they bought their electricity from. Those retail sellers were not allowed to raise their prices to users but generators were allowed to raise their prices to retail sellers. When the prices retailers had to pay was higher than what they were able to charge their own buyers, the end users, they were left with stopping the sell of energy or with going bankrupt. The entire crisis was caused by the state government.

Falcon

Because it's too expensive. There is no place in the world where nuclear power can stand on it's own. Nuclear power depends on government for it's existence.

Falcon

Nuclear power is Hooked on Subsidies.
"How do France (and India, China and Russia) build cost-effective nuclear power plants? They don’t. Governmental officials in those countries, not private investors, decide what is built. Nuclear power appeals to state planners, not market actors."

Oh, about CATO:
"The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank – dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues."

Falcon

How is Mountaintop removal clean? How is coal mining safe? Ops, that's in China. 19 killed in coal mine accidents in U.S. in 2012. Now how many have been killed by solar, wind, and other alternative energy sources?

Falcon

General Electric-designed reactors in Fukushima have 23 sisters in U.S.

Falcon

I've never heard "greenies" insist on Sea Salt.

Falcon

Do you have actual data to back up how many bats are being killing by wind gennies? I recalled people opposed to wind gennies saying they killed a lot of birds. However studies have shown cats kill more birds than wind generators. The article Do wind turbines kill birds? has a chart of statistics showing how many birds are killed by different things, from cars, wild and feral cats (but not pet cats?), to windows. Some may have a problem with the chart though, out of seven killers of birds 5 of the statistics are provided by the American Wind Energy Association, one by treehugger, and one by American Bird Conservancy. Sciam asks the question Are Wind Turbines Getting More Bird and Bat-Friendly? It partially answers by saying stake holders from AWEA, ABC, and National Audubon are working on ways to reduce bird and bat mortality rates.

Falcon

Physics isn't the only science. Agriculture, the study of growing food, is science as well. "Agriculture, also called farming or husbandry, is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi, and other life forms for food, fiber, biofuel and other products used to sustain human life." There's also biology and medicine. A number of sciences exist to not just keep us alive but to improve our lives. There's even Biophysics.

Falcon