I think McCain is being kind of silly with all of this nuclear talk. As krontekag notes, the French do have a good thing on nuclear power. They’re arguably the world’s experts at nuclear reactor technology.

However, I don’t see it flying. First, it’ll take a long time to bring any new plants online. Secondly, there’s a deep aversion to it in the US and there’ll undoubtedly be all sorts of lawsuits and moves to delay their construction.

This could prove problematic as GM is moving quick to develop an electric car. A big increase in electric cars would be one of the best possible things for our country in reducing our consumption of foreign oil. However, if they rush to market too soon, it will begin to strain the grid. So what’s the solution?

Solar.

Solar has been making astonishing gains in efficiency and in cost. Wall Street has been investing big money into startups. Some firms are buying up vast tracks of useless land in the South West in the belief that it will soon be prime land for solar farms. If prices continue to drop at the rate they’ve dropped in recent years, solar will soon be one of the cheapest energy sources on the planet.

This is all moving fast. Do a google news search on “solar power” and check out how much chatter there is.

And none too soon. The most effective move we could make to contain Russia is to keep their oil revenues down. Since we consume such a huge portion of the world’s oil, a substantial reduction in our own use of it will do a lot to keep the price down, reduce Russia’s ability to use it as a weapon, and keep us from sending $ out of the country.