3 centigrade degrees = 5.4 Fahrenheit degrees, not 11 degrees Fahrenheit.

Steven Chu  interview
"Should fission-based nuclear power plants be made a bigger part of the energy-producing portfolio?
Absolutely. Right now about 20 percent of our power comes from nuclear; there have been no new nuclear plants built since the early '70s."
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/10/03_chu.sh ...

Unfortunately the DOE chief serves as an accountant, not an engineer or scientist. The budget is only $25 billion, spent largely on military issues.

http://www.cfo.doe.gov/budget/09budget/Content/ApprSum.pd ...

Our energy program is determined by a group of gray haired law school graduates in Washington called Congress.

If we gave him $150 billion per year for the next ten years with instructions to solve the world's energy problems, I believe he could do it.

Things Everybody Should Know About Energy

Wind is less costly than new nuclear:
This report funded by the nuclear industry states that new nuclear power production costs are between: 8.3 and 11.1 cents/kWh
http://www.keystone.org/spp/documents/FinalReport_NJFF6_1 ...(1).pdf
However this report assumed capital overnight costs of only $2950/kW and new nuclear power plants to be built in Florida already assumed capital costs of over $7000/kW and this at prohibitively long planning and construction times.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=8916 ...

According to the Department of Energy the costs of wind power are between 3 and 6.4 cents per kWh. Average capital costs of Windturbines are $1480/kW (2006).
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41435.pdf
South dakota alone has enough wind to power half the US:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/05/14/s ...

No wonder wind capacity is currently growing about 20 times faster than nuclear and has a double digit growth every single year. http://www.wwindea.org/home/index.php?option=com_content& ...

And interconnected Windfarms can provide baseload:
http://www.stanford.edu/group/efmh/winds/aj07_jamc.pdf

Thinfilm photovoltaics will reach costs of below $1000/kW by 2010.
http://guntherportfolio.blogspot.com/2007/09/oerlikon-sol ...
120,000 km2 of the US is built. If only 10% of that area has roof area, that leads to a maximum solar flux of 12,000 GW or 1,200 GW at only 10% efficiency.

92 x 92 sq mi (or about 8% of Nevada) is enough to power the entire US with solar thermal alone.
http://www.ausra.com/

HVDC can transmit power from coast to coast with losses of only 3% per 1000 km at costs of €70/kW per 1000 km (transmission line only).
http://www.abb.com/cawp/GAD02181/C1256D71001E0037C1256834 ...
http://www.iset.uni-kassel.de/abt/w3-w/projekte/LowCostEu ...

Not to mention geothermal, biomass, tidal and most importantly: efficiency.