Is this a practical plan, or is some of it wishful thinking?

Governor Corzine's energy master plan for New Jersey calls for a reduction of 20 percent in energy consumption by 2020.

It also proposes that by that same year, just 12 years hence, 22.5 percent of the state's electricity should come from renewable sources, chiefly wind and solar, up from 2 percent now.

Further, New Jersey emissions of greenhouse gases should be reduced by 20 percent.

These goals are remarkable. Energy use has been growing steadily. Nearly half the state's power plants are 30 years old or older. Some will have to be replaced, sooner or later.

How will all these needs be accommodated? Is this a practical plan, or is some of it wishful thinking?

For example, some people are talking up a new nuclear power plant in New Jersey, which would be the first to be built in 35 years. The state has four nuclear reactors now, including three operated by Public Service Electric & Gas in rural Salem County. The utility, led by a nuclear physicist, is prepared to build another one, next to the first three.

This would be a new type of reactor, designed to be safer and more efficient. Like existing nuclear plants, it would produce little or no greenhouse gases. Would New Jersey accept a new atomic plant? Or would people react with fear, remembering Chernobyl and Three Mile Island? Would politicians turn that fear to election advantage?

How realistic are plans to retrofit existing public and privately owned buildings to minimize energy consumption? What would it cost? Who would pay for this work? Taxpayers?

As we have seen, Corzine is prepared to move decisively when he thinks something is the right thing to do, regardless of potential political consequences. In New York, the new governor, David Paterson, recently vetoed placement of a floating liquefied natural gas transfer station in Long Island Sound.

Natural gas more efficient

The location would have been nine miles north of the nearest land in New York, even farther from Connecticut and 60 miles from Times Square. Natural gas is a much more efficient fuel than coal or oil, emitting fewer hydrocarbons into the atmosphere, and there are ample supplies available in ports around the world. In 40 years of marine transport of LNG, there have been no major accidents.

So then, shouldn't privately financed projects like this one, called Broadwater, be encouraged rather than denounced? Corzine's answer is yes. He fought against Delaware for the right to site a private LNG terminal on the banks of the Delaware River in South Jersey, eventually losing in a case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Similarly iffy is wind power. Like solar, wind power is expensive. The Long Island Power Authority is a case in point. In 2002 it sought submissions for designing and building a 40-turbine wind project in the Atlantic Ocean 4.5 miles south of Jones Beach. The authority initially estimated the cost at $180 million. The projected figure rose steadily, eventually reaching more than $800 million. Last summer the agency killed the project, even though the additional "green power" cost per household, spread over 20 years, would have averaged only $2.50 per month.

Undaunted, Corzine got the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to issue a similar request last fall for wind energy proposals. This one invited submissions for generation of up to 350 megawatts, enough to power 125,000 homes, in a swath of ocean running from Seaside Park in Monmouth County south 72 miles to Stone Harbor in Cape May, extending out from the coast 20 miles.

Our governor is not just prepared to tolerate such a project, he is encouraging it, with a novel competitive grant scheme that could pay the winner $19 million, spread over five years. Of that sum, 10 percent would be provided upfront, to cover studies and permit applications.

Three participate

Three companies have submitted entries that conform to the competition rules. One will be chosen. PSE&G, partnered by Winergy Power, is proposing 96 turbines in water 60 feet deep, 16 miles off the Atlantic and Cape May coasts. Blue Water Wind, based in Hoboken, wants to put up 116 turbines 15 miles out from Atlantic City.

Fishermen's Energy, the third firm, is headed by Daniel Cohen, president of a sea-scallop harvesting company. In the past, fishermen opposed offshore wind projects because of potential harm to their catch. This company, which includes commercial boat and dock owners, sees wind energy as an opportunity rather than a threat, a chance to harvest the sea for both energy and fish.

It wants to build 74 turbines in two stages, eight in a pilot project just three miles off Atlantic City, and the rest later, six or seven miles out.

Well, we'll see how it goes. Some interesting things are happening, but as for the 2020 goals set by Corzine, he, and we, had better not get our hopes up.