I work on the front line of the industry.  I have a ringside seat.  If you want to disregard everything I said then you may.  It won't change any of the things I have stated.

All operating nukes since the 70's came on line with a 25 year operating license.  At the end of 25 years they may apply for a 20 year extension.  That is the absolute end of their lifetime.  The reactor vessels reach a point where they are no longer safe to operate due to a process called neutron embrittlement.  The last plant to come on line in the US was Watts Bar.  Most hit the line in the 70's and 80's. 

Do a cost analysis on just the cost of leasing the land for a wind turbine.  They eat huge swaths of land (usually owned by someone) that is leased on a monthly basis.  They require access roads to every installation along with electric infrastructure such as underground cable and transformers.  At the absolute minimum, the amount of land for a windmill has the circular radius equal to the height of the tower plus the blade (in case it falls).  Figure out the acreage of 150 meter tall windmill.  There is a wind farm in southern Ill. that covers 20,000 acres and the maximum output is 400 megawatts.  Then factor in the 'capacity factor' which is the actually percentage output that you get from the units.  Currently, these factors are running between 13 - 15%.  So you lease 20,000 acres, buy the turbines and towers, pay for the infrastructure and you end up with 400 x .15 = 60 megawatts.  The bottom line is these things never will pay for themselves.

Most new designs for nukes range from 500 - 1500 megawatts per unit and they have capacity factors of 80 - 90%.  Large coal plants also have about the same output range.  These units function very well on areas as small as a couple a hundred acres. 

Your investments in utilities is a smart one.  The dividends are very reliable and pretty hefty.  I invested a chunk in 2009 just for the divi.  The face value on the ones I bought have more than doubled since then so I'm pretty happy about that.  Still, it just kills me the way the energy policy is being driven by deception.  I can't blame the utilities because that have to dance to the tune the government plays if they want to stay in business.

Yes, smart grid is going to allow the cutting off of individual customers from a central location.  New meters are being installed that can be controlled by a signal sent from the operation center, to the substation, to the distribution circuit that feeds every customer.  Every meter has an address and will be able to receive individual instructions.  The occupation of meter reader is soon to be extinct because utilities can read you power usage remotely.  It's not rocket science and it is coming.  The utilities are not interested in turning off appliances that in your home...there's no reason to do so.  There are good reasons to be able to control the power down to this level.  Primarily, it allows the power company to avoid a system collapse should demand exceed supply and a system collapse is a disaster.  The grid is being knitted together more and more tightly and, while this helps reduce the chance of a collapse, when one occurs it will be on a much more massive scale than ever before.  You don't know how close we all came in the blackout of 03.

As far a CO2 goes, well, I consider it like rain.  It's a necessary component of every form of life on this planet.  It's not a pollutant.  We would die without it.  There is absolute evidence that the planet has gone through many rapid periods of heating and cooling.  The 'Little Ice Age' is the most recent.  The planet cooled several degrees in fewer than 100 years.  There were no power plants running at the time.  Before that time there were vineyards in Greenland.  That was a time when the planet was much warmer than it is today.  I believe that the changes were due to changes in the energy output of the sun.  I also believe that our sun varies it's output much more than we have been led to believe.  I think it is very foolish to invest so much wealth into something that is based on an idea that is far from being proven.  I think the old adage 'A fool and his money are soon parted' applies to our current situation.

I just want to try and do my part in telling folks what I have witnessed over the years.  It's up to every individual to make up their own minds.  People deserve to know what they are buying.

Get used to the high prices of all forms of energy.  Huge sums of money are being dumped in windmill schemes under the guise of 'green energy'.  Utilities are conning people into paying extra on their electric bills with the blessing and encouragement (even at the direction of) of the state and federal government.  In the mean time the large fossil and nuke plants are rapidly approaching their obsolescence date (the end dates for all nukes are written in stone and cannot be extended and the majority in this country are already into the 20 yr extension granted by the NRC).  These plants are not being replaced and most have about a 10 year construction cycle. 

'Smart Grid' tech is rapidly being rolled out under the guise of more efficient energy transfer (current transfer rates are between 97 and 98% efficient right now so how much can be gained?).  The secret about 'Smart Grid' tech is that it will allow the utilities to turn off your power at the source without your consent.  This allows the utility to shave peaks whenever they need to...which is great if you are a control room operator, but it sucks if you're trying to fix dinner.

AEP has announced the closure of 5 coal plants (they are the largest coal burning utility in the country).  TVA and the rest will follow suit.  I would suggest you get used to the steady drumbeat of 5 - 10% annual price increases because they are coming.  The libs in congress will rail loudly against the utilities for gouging the consumer but in private, they are the ones pushing hardest for these changes.  Why??? In the name of greenhouse gasses of course.  Global warming...Environmental reasons...Renewable energy in the form of General Electric wind turbines made in Germany(and you wonder if there is some corruption between Obama and Immelt...CEO of G.E. and chief energy advisor to the pres.)

Just FYI, the cheapest generating units are the nukes followed by the large coal units.  Large combine-cycle gas CT's are next followed by small coal units.  Then come the simple cycle gas units followed by the large oil burners.  Wind turbines are absent from the list since nobody has figure out how to price them yet. 

I just thought you would like to know.