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| Originally Posted by 749er Am not sure where you get your facts from but from way back when i was studying all this at Uni
Wave power costs 6p/kWh (revised from 9p/kWh)
Nuclear costs 6p/kWh - excludes decommissioning costs
Wind costs 11p/kWh
Hydro- cheap as chips
Fossil fuels are no longer an option
No one knows what it costs to decommission a nuclear power station as no one has done it. They are left as radioactive tombs for thousands of years, unless we do the right thing and deal with them. But it will cost more to decommission than to will to build.
People should be scared of nuclear installations. We built a fast breeder reactor at Dounray. It was an experiment in producing power from a new type of reactor which tool spent nuclear fuel and handily enough turned into plutonium. It didnt work so we built THORP instead. Another idea, so great that no one else in the world has followed suit. The fast breeder was cooled by liquid sodium. Never in the history of man has man succeeded in putting out a fire fueled by liquid sodium. What on earth were we doing? Seriously! No wonder the locals, and the scandanavians were not happy.
Power consumption will decrease. The UK Building Regulations are a legal document. They must be complied with. For the next 50 years they will revised so that the energy performance of buildings improves by 27% every 5 years. The first tranche came in last year. It applies to new build and refurb. Homes are also covered by this. Businesses can take advantage of tax breaks and interest free loans to fund energy efficient technology. I know firms who have had there money back in less than 2 years. Its a great business investment for them. This is an EEC directive and is part of our commitments to Kyoto. If everyone signed up we would be off with our knees up! But you cant influence, say the USA, if you are not excercising good practice yourself.
A wave barrage the length of the western isles could power most of Scotland.
Australia and Denmark generate 20% of their power from wind.
Lastly, ask yourself, how would you feel if they wanted to build a nuclear power station where you lived? |
Will power consumption really decrease? Maybe it will grow at a lower rate, but actually decrease? I find that one doubtful.. The growth in everything electrical is never-ending, new buildings all have fancy HVAC systems which the older ones don't. I'm not convinced UK power consumption will be reduced, and for the developing world it is only going to rise.