It seems that every couple of years another big time enviro of one stripe or another starts hawking some messianic fuel source or another. I’ve gotten into flame wars with “pragmatic progressive” policy wonks over bio-fuels (um, dear, the net gain over fossils? Zero. But I’ve got a machine for sale that runs off of its own momentum forever. Sell it to ya cheap.), argued with professors about nukes (um, where do you think that uranium comes from?), and entrepreneurs seeking to make cash out of cow crap (um, why are we piling up so much of that stuff in one place anyway?).

It’s always the same, we’ll be saved by the next miracle fuel.

Natural gas seems to be the latest darling, viewed by enviros as the next “bridge fuel.”

I’d suggest just burning the bridge before we even get there: Just use less. A lot less. I’ve been successful at slashing my family’s electric and natural gas energy use by 2/3. With a little institutioal cooperation, I think we could get down to using 1/10 the nation’s current per capita use. No hairshirt required.

Because, as we see here, the latest darling fuel ain’t so darling.

Update 1: More on the nuclear power pollution — and no, it ain’t about theoretical dangers of catastrophes. We’re talking about “routine” exposure here.