Osher Lifelong Learning Institute
A Scientifically Achievable Green New Deal
Many have called for some kind of a Green New Deal
involving a rapid shift to carbon-free energy to rein in
the worst effects of global warming. To achieve that
goal within the necessary time frame, our plans for
electricity generation must include some mix of the
following:
• Stop building new fossil-fuel plants
• Stop closing existing and safe nuclear-power or
hydropower plants
• Build as many wind turbines as possible in Tornado Alley
• Put rooftop solar on all new buildings in the
American Southwest
• Build new small modular reactors in which melt-
downs are not possible
• Build a fleet of 300 million fully-electric and
hydrogen-fueled vehicles by 2040
• Streamline the approval process for big items such
as high-voltage electric lines, smart grids and nuclear
plants
This lecture will discuss these options and will
explain why the issue is too important to tolerate the
substitution of ideology for science.
Speaker Bio
Herbert M. Parker Foundation at Washington
State University. He has worked on nuclear and
energy issues for 40 years at NASA, WSU, NMSU,
Los Alamos, Pacific Northwest and Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratories. Conca has
been an advisor to DOE, EPA, state and federal
regulatory agencies, and to President Obama’s
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear
Future. He worked on Yucca Mt and WIPP nuclear
waste projects for 25 years, was a Science
Contributor to Forbes for 10 years, and is an
advisor to the new Washington State Legislature’s
bipartisan Nuclear Energy Caucus. Conca obtained
a Ph.D. in Geochemistry from Caltech in 1985,
a master’s in Planetary Science in 1981, and a
bachelor’s in Geology and Biochemistry from
Brown University in 1979.