ABSTRACT
It was clear to some of us in the 1990s that a transition was coming from reliance on fossil fuels to an energy system increasingly reliant on cleaner sources of energy. Nuclear power had its strong advocates, but a number of us preferred a different path, renewable energy. We believed that it was possible with adequate policy and financial support and were making every effort to speed up the steps leading to the transition. This was clearly an issue not only for the United States but for other countries as well if the world was to eventually reduce dependence on coal, oil, and natural gas. These fuels, when combusted, put carbon and other pollutants into the environment, created international tension via competition for fuels, presented variable and often volatile costs, and impacted national security. Methane (natural gas) was also identified as a powerful greenhouse gas in its own right.
