Dear Mr. Scharfman,
Thank you for sending me the planning survey on Universal Paragon Corporation's plans to develop the Brisbane Baylands. I was unable to complete the survey the first time it was sent out, and I am glad to have a second opportunity to participate.
I have a few comments on some specific items in the survey that were impossible to answer in the format provided. I'd like to start with what I view is the most important question on the survey.
Back in February, my sister sent me a link to the electric car company Miles EV. On their website, they featured a 100+ mile range highway-speed fully-electric car with an estimated MSRP under $40,000 that they said would be ready to test drive sometime in August, and would be available for sale sometime early in 2010. It is now gone from their website, which currently is only featuring a few small low-speed cars and trucks.
Lately there seems to be a lot of talk about using nuclear energy to reduce our petrolium and coal consumption. The arguement usually involves a comparison of the volume of nuclear waste per unit of energy produced compared to coal, coupled with an assertion that neither solar nor wind can provide baseline power.
There are flaws in the arguement, though. One thing that is often overlooked is that currently, nuclear energy is not viable without subsidies. A 2005 article from EarthTrack describes the dependancy nuclear energy has on government funds: