>>Uhm, we *do* have 49 other states, and some don't have as much sunshine :)

Yes, but transmission wires don't care if they have sunshine. ;-) Little old New Zealand shifts power across the Cook Strait so I'm sure the US can string a few wires to where power is needed even more easily than you shift water where it is needed.

>>Don't get me wrong - renewable energy has good supplemental and regional value. You'll never hear me say it can't be part of the solution. But too many advocates don't accept the limits (nor the economic pitfalls, like the huge negative impact on real estate)

In the middle of Arizona? One solar farm in the middle of nowhere theoretically can power most of the country.

>>bottom line...nuclear energy is (relatively) the safest and most efficient form of large-scale energy

Spoken like a true Frenchman. ;-) Seriously, you guys have whole deserts you could use for power without anybody noticing except Coyote and Road Runner.