Reality of global warming on way to power bill

We've been hearing about global warming for years, but it's always been in the form of something to worry about someday, far in the future.

But the topic is receiving the attention it has probably deserved all along, thanks in large part to the efforts of former vice president Al Gore and his movie, "An Inconvenient Truth."

It isn't hard for Southwest Nebraskans to believe in climate change -- we're in a six-year drought and counting.

The Earth's atmosphere has a third more carbon dioxide today, thanks to internal combustion engines, power plants and the burning of fossil fuels, than it did before the Industrial Revolution.

In the United States, greenhouse gases climbed by 16 percent between 1990 and 2004, according to the EPA, but we have not signed on to the Kyoto Protocol, a 1992 United Nations treaty which would reduce greenhouse emissions by 5 percent from their 1990 levels by 2012.

China, India and other fast-growing economies have not signed on, our leaders note, so it would be unfair for our economy to bear the brunt of the cost.

Now the Nebraska Public Power District is being told to get ready to pay the piper, and we as consumers know that can only mean more money out of our household budgets.

A Washington law firm warned the NPPD board of directors this week that regulations or taxes are likely to raise the price of coal significantly in five or 10 years, and now is the time to get ready.

Meanwhile, the utility needs to determine how much greenhouse gas it produces, improve efficiency at the Sheldon Station coal plant near Hallam and Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownsville, and provide more incentives for conservation.

Ironically, while conservation is important, it can hurt a utility's bottom line, where income from sales dimishes as the price increases, making it harder to to pay for fixed costs.

But from the advice NPPD is getting, it's clear coal and fossil fuel will be come less attractive.

Wind and solar generation are far from being able to contribute much more than symbolic amounts to Nebraska's energy needs. There are limited opportunities for hydroelectrice power, and Nebraska is doing well to keep its nuclear generation facilities in operation.

Only through a mix of conservation, efficiency and new technology can we continue to enjoy the high standards of living electrical energy brings us, without irreparable damage to the environmental system that keeps us alive.