by Anya » Mon Apr 30, 2007 7:08 am
Coal can be mined and utilized - cleanly and safely - these days, without disrupting the environment. If we can dig huge tunnels under the sea, we can dig coal, using similar machinery. We are sitting on the stuff and it is crazy not to use it - cleanly and safely -
Wave power does not just benefit coastal areas. It is added to the national grid, for everyone's benefit, in the whole country.
New homes should have full insulation and solar panels incorporated, 'dynamic' boilers that produce electricity, water storage tanks under the garage. That would make them virtually independent, for energy. Grants exist for older homes.
What is rarely mentioned, is hydropower. The cleanest form of energy production, of all. Not the huge dams, that destroy entire regions - but smaller systems, in each area.
Any city of town that is near the sea, or near a river, or near a large lake can build an hydropower station, by digging large vertical tunnels and directing some of the water onto powerful turbines below, producing electricity for the whole district. In many parts of the Continent, that has existed for nearly a century.
The water is not 'lost', it returns from whence it came. The ecology of the area is not damaged, because the water is abstracted safely, often as part of flood defences. Thus killing two large stones with one little bird. Avoiding the costly floods that are such regular and miserable yearly events, for many people, whilst producing constant and clean energy.
By comparison, wind turbines produce a minute amount of energy, for the sheer disruption they cause to the environment When the wind don't blow, they produce ZILCH. Apart from hugely expensive maintenance.