Weekly Question

What's the Fuel of the Future?

Hello again, it's been a while since I have posted, simply because I have been on a long weekend break to Great Yarmouth. We stayed in a caravan, and were a stones throw from the beach. But the most interesting thing about this place we stayed Haven Seashore was the fact that it had a beach that had in the sea a wind farm. There were about thirty odd of these huge great windmills generating electricity for the surrounding area. So this got me to thinking, is this going to be the future of Britain's coastline?

Wind Farm at Great Yarmouth

There have recently been so many politicians harping on about Global Warming, the environment and what we should do about it. They have also been banging the drum for alternative methods of power production. Blair (spit), is concentrating most of his efforts on Nuclear, or at least he will be until Public Opinion tells him otherwise. Whereas Cameron seems to be looking into all the viable alternatives for future energy needs. One thing is for sure though, the oil, gas and coal is going to run out, and we need to have an alternative in place now.

Could it be wind farms all the way down the coastline of Britain? Could it be tidal flow generators under our seas? Or is it going to be a Nuclear powered world?

Truth be known at first sight these huge wind turbines look pretty impressive, but can you imagine going to the beach at the height of the summer and swimming in the sea with these monsters in your view?

This is what Wikipedia said about the wind farm at Scroby Sands , although 41,000 homes is quite a lot of homes can you imagine how many of these wind turbines would be needed to generate enough electricity to power and heat the whole of the UK? What will it do to the environment? Ok it's relatively 'clean' energy but it isn't exactly aesthetically pleasing to the eye. So what about Tidal power? One thing is for sure, the tides are pretty constant aren't they?

Rance, in France Worlds Biggest Tidal Power

However, look at this Tidal Power bit of information again from Wikipedia, and you can see that there are quite a few problems associated with the Tidal Barrages, that seem at first so environmentally friendly. They can actually wreck the whole Eco-system, which is exactly what the environmentalists want to avoid.

So the next one, on the list is Solar Energy. Well Solar energy has been around for years and years, yet how much of it do we see? Answer very little, it used to be that people thought it could be the next new source of energy. But then they saw the size of the solar panels needed and soon pooh-poohed the idea. Could this be how we see houses in the future;

It could be, but then builders would have to be legislated against to ensure that all new homes are built with solar panels. At the moment they are far too expensive, so the government need to subsidise them, in order to make them more affordable. Will they do it? Well not this current government that is for sure, they would put some sort of tax on them to make sure that they got their cut from a 'greener' world.

The thing is B & Q a large DIY chain here in the UK have now started to sell Wind Turbines and Solar Panels in their larger stores, and they offer installation as well. Trouble is the turbines and solar panels, still don't produce enough electricity and heating for 100% of are needs, it's more like 40%.

So where does that leave us, well we have to do something that is for sure. Have a look at this site, it is quite worrying http://overheating.blogspot.com/ but at the same time very informative.

So is Nuclear the long term answer? I believe that it is, but I also believe it is not the ONLY answer. In truth I think that we have to have all of the above to actually carry on as we are. The world population is expanding, and we have to find ways and means to cater for all the energy requirements, without having to mess up the environment in the process. It will son be a very ugly world, and I am sorely sorry it is something that my kids are going to have to live with. I am just glad I will not be around to see it.