'Clean energy' is losing its meaning

Currently no term is more abused than "clean energy." First the coal industry stole the term "clean" as an adjective on the promise that carbon emissions can be captured as if the only thing that makes energy clean is whether carbon is emitted or not.

Well, where are these sequestered carbon emissions and how come this adjective continues to be associated with coal in the minds of many people and policymakers? Now the nuclear industry is heading down this same path and wants their form of energy generation to be classified as "clean," again, because it does not emit carbon.

In the case of nuclear at least this is true, but it produces some of the most lethal and dangerous solid waste which the world has yet to figure out how to deal with. As this field of clean-energy producers gets crowded with everyone seeking admission, it is beginning to lose meaning which is what they want, and the real clean energy producers like wind and solar will get pushed aside. We can't afford, in more ways than one, to let them manipulate the market this way.

Peter Gorr

Palatine