by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
We must have nuclear power stations otherwise the UK will not be able to meet the low carbon targets for energy production nor the demand, Tim Yeo MP, chair of the subcommittee on climate change and energy, keeps saying.
Nuclear is not an option because we – first of all – cannot afford nuclear for price alone and then for other issues.
Tim Yeo is wrong there when he refers to nuclear as something we need because of our continuing energy demand. The answer is not to throw more and more energy capacity at people and industry because of “demand”; the answer is reduction in energy consumption, whether for households, businesses or industry.
The claim, always, is that we must met future energy demand and the need for a growing economy is also quoted and that for that we need all that “more” energy.
What we need to do, as said already, is to reduce our energy usage, our energy consumption.
But you are stifling the economic growth then, some bright spark will now counter, and we need to have more and more economic growth. We do? Really? Why? They already work on continuing growth in that they produce goods, nowadays, that don't last much further than their guarantee period and which cannot be repaired thus necessitating renewed purchases of new products. But what was in the old days, not all that long ago, when things could be mended and were made to last, actually, with some companies giving real honest lifetime guarantees and warranties? Business thrived through innovation and also through providing repair services.
But back to energy...
A different way of energy production
If we would (i) change the way we do things and reduce our energy consumption and (ii) change the voltage and the current type, then most, if not indeed all, our energy could be meet from small wind and small PV installations.
There is no need with regards to most electrical appliances, in general, to have anything higher in voltage than 12volts and this case direct current rather than the high-voltage alternate current.
The great majority of electrical and electronic appliances could be powered that way simply because they require less than 12volt DC even. Your PC, even your desktop and thin client, has a power supply built in which does what? It reduces the 240V AC (or 110V AC) down to the operating voltage of the computer, which is below 12V DC even.
Ships have freezers, fridges, etc. running on 12V DC and those white goods could be used also in ordinary households. Thus every roof could become a power station, generating 12V DC for personal use, storing the surplus in batteries, for use when the wind does not blow and the sun does not shine, such as at night.
But, as said, first of all we all need to reduce our energy consumption. Not more energy generation but less demand is what is called for for starters, and nuclear is not the answer, to state it, once again.
Aside from the dangers of the power stations and the accidents that keep happening, only of which we, the people, are not allowed to know and then, furthermore, the issue of the nuclear waste. This stuff is toxic, and this is a far too benign word for it, for thousands and thousands of years and we have no way of knowing for how long really and what any small amount of leakage could do to us and the environment.
We need to reduce energy consumption and we must do this now...
© 2011
