NJ,
Yes, the consequences are too horrible to think about, but I guess that back then we (both U.S. & U.K.) also had the optimistic outlook that the world would become a better place and that events such as happened on 9/11 could never occur.
It's like the other old reports here about how crime levels would drop in the future and Britain would become a better place to live. Well, some material things have improved, but our rate of violent crme is now 20 times what it was in 1960 and folks in some areas are scared to go out alone in daylight, nevermind after dark. It makes it that much harder to seem optimistic about the future, doesn't it? But I digress - Sorry!
*
Al,
Point taken. I think it would be wonderful if we could get all our energy requirements from renewable sources such as wind and solar, but I think the time that we will achieve that is still a long way off. Until that day, I just think that nuclear power is a better alternative to building more "conventional" coal/oil/gas stations which will burn up our dwindling fossil fuel supplies at an even more rapid rate.
Ultimately, I think we will need to address the question of how to stop the rapid annual increase in power consumption, right down to the small items, e.g. Does my local supermarket really need 4kW of lighting in a 20 ft. square lobby which is completely glass on two sides? And when the govt. spends millions on a "Save Energy" campaign, why do their tax offices need to be heated to about 78 degrees?
One area the U.K. in particular should address is the woefully inadequate heat insulation of our houses. A recent study showed that the winter heating bill
in an average British home is greater than that for a similar sized home in the middle of Sweden.
