SWEDEN AND SWITZERLAND

Sure. And the US could, too. First and foremost, it would have to stop feeding itself and much of the rest of the world; it would have to import most of its food like Sweden and Switzerland. From the Ukraine perhaps, or failing that, from Monaco.

Second, it would have to give up its energy-intensive industries, not only agriculture, but also steel, aluminum, copper, mining, smelting, metal working, petrochemicals, paper, and a host of others; it could always turn to low-energy and service industries like Switzerland watches and banking.

Third, the US would have to give up its automobile based economy. Most Swedes and Swiss use the automobile for comfort and pleasure, not for essential transportation. This would mean, among other slight adjustments, reducing the area of US cities, but not their population, so as to achieve the much higher population density of Geneva, Zurich or Stockholm. What could be easier?

Fourth, it would have to arrange, as Sweden and Switzerland did, for almost exclusively mountainous country with a multitude of short, swift, abundant streams that can be harnessed for highly efficient hydropower. The great majority of Sweden's electric power is hydroelectric; its Stornorrforsen hydroelectric plant is the largest in Europe. Similarly, Switzerland is Europe's most mountainous country, and its abundant streams power no less than 431 major hydroelectric plants. The efficiency of a hydroelectric plant is almost 3 times greater than that of the average US coal-fired plant, so the Swedish and Swiss per capita energy consumption is not exactly mindboggling.

But as always, ask not what the anti-nukes are saying, ask what they have left out. They never mention that with 18% of its capacity nuclear (more than twice the US fraction), Switzerland is the world's "most nuclear" country, nor that Sweden, with 13%, is third (the US with 8.3% is 6th, but about to become 7th as it is overtaken by Japan).

Still, the anti-nukes could point to some inspiring examples. Mr & Mrs Cantu and their 8 kids of San Antonio, Texas, reports the National Observer, got tired of paying utility rates and now live completely without electricity. Mrs Cantu cooks on a 3-burner stove and irons clothes only when absolutely necessary; Mr Cantu, an upholsterer, uses a treadle sewing machine; to refrigerate their food and soft drinks, they run through 100 lbs of ice in 3 days.

They are a conservationist's dream. The lack of electricity keeps them so busy they have no time to think how those 100 lbs of ice were made, nor how much energy they use in hauling them, or whether burning propane in a 3-burner stove is more efficient than burning fuel centrally in a power plant. The lack of bathing may cause a little air pollution, but you can't win them all...