electricity production

Desalinization technology has long been trapped between two competing nightmare scenarios. Without desalination, fresh water resources run out and large swaths of the earth suffer crippling water shortages. But if we desalinate on a large scale, we keep burning fossil fuels, the earth warms, the ice caps melt, and sea levels rise to wreak havoc on coastal regions.

Nuclear power isn't disappearing anytime soon, according to a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency. By the end of last year, nuclear accounted for about 15 percent of electricity production worldwide, and its overall capacity will continue to rise through 2030.

France gets 78 percent of its power from nuclear, and a number of Asian countries are betting on it to meet their electricity needs. China has four reactors under construction now, and intends to launch a five-fold expansion by 2020.

In the US, 103 reactors provide nearly 20 percent of our electricity, but building a new plant involves an uphill PR battle, due in part to the fact that we still haven't figured out what we're going to do with the waste.—Gregory Mone