Word: coal
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...politics, and most scientists are about as adept at Beltway Kabuki as most politicians are at freezing atoms. Chu has already created a miniflap by telling reporters it wasn't his job to badger OPEC about oil prices, and he has struggled to explain why he once called coal a "nightmare." Several of his scientific initiatives have stalled on Capitol Hill, victims of lackluster salesmanship. He got his unofficial welcome to politics in February, during a tour of the University of Pennsylvania's operations facility, when a snippy Vice President Joe Biden responded to Chu's seemingly innocuous comments about...
...that well with Americans. They ranked global warming last in a national survey of 20 top priorities; in a global poll, only 44% of them wanted action to be taken on the issue, vs. 94% of Chinese. Most Republican leaders flatly reject prevailing climate science, while many Democrats from coal, oil and farm states are equally protective of the fossil-fuel status quo. This is why the American Clean Energy and Security Act - a far-reaching Democratic bill that would cap carbon emissions - has been marketed to a confused public on the basis of issues that poll far better...
...Environmentalists are generally ecstatic about Chu, but at a time when coal plants and heavily subsidized corn ethanol are creating huge environmental problems, some question his enthusiasm for "clean coal" and "third-generation biofuels," which do not yet exist, as well as his support for new nuclear power, which has become wildly expensive. They recall President George W. Bush talking up future technological miracles as an alternative to present-day action, and they want Chu to focus on proven technologies that can help boost efficiency and conservation to reduce energy demand now, plus on renewables to create zero-emissions supply...
...Also, if you use the electric vehicle's or hybrid's electric-only mode, the miles per gallon are "infinite or have no meaning since no gas is being consumed," according to Anthony Eggert of California's ARB. Of course, it takes oil, coal, nuclear, wind or hydro power to create the energy electric cars are powered on, so even eco saints don't get off free. To complicate matters further, if you want a hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered vehicle, like a Honda FCX Clarity, you will need to measure mileage in m.p.k., or miles per kilograms of hydrogen...
...forced labor to build up their infrastructure. From 1918 to 1956, between 15 million and 30 million people are estimated to have died from exhaustion, illness and malnutrition after toiling in the notorious Soviet gulag in 14-hour days felling trees, digging in the frigid Siberian tundra or mining coal. Often the labor was as fruitless as the punishments devised by the British. In the early 1930s, more than 100,000 prisoners toiled to construct a canal between the White and Baltic seas - which turned out to be too narrow and shallow to service most vessels...