| Re: Severn barrage
hi, that 6% of energy might sound impressive, but it's only a third of the amount we are going to lose as our current old nuclear plants are closed.
All the "alternative" technologies have a very low energy density: size-for-size they really don't produce much power.
I'm very much in favour of new nuclear plants provided we use the right technology. In the past, the choice of design has been heavily influneced, first by military needs for fissile material and then by commercial ones by companies like Westinghouse.
I think there are few alternatives that can generate serious amounts of electricity: Hydro if you're lucky enough to live near Niagara or are prepared to flood a big bit of your country, biofuel if you don't mind half the world being turned into vast monoculture, the obvious coal/oil which is the cause of all our troubles, geothermal if you can wait until it stops being science fiction, or hydrogen if you don't believe in physics.
I reckon wave, tide and wind can only supply enough power if we don't actually want to turn any lights on!  |