BBC Focus Magazine

[Jamie]

http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/colu ... ble-energy

Interesting. I'm sure you'll all have something to say about this.

[M Paul Lloyd]

Yes they are preaching to the converted as far as I am concerned Jamie but they are also right in what they say, renewable's are just not going to go anywhere near solving our future power needs.

[Willxx]

I think the goal has to be re-education - we have all grown up with a National Grid and power on demand which is going to struggle if increased demand continues.

Whilst it may currently be impractical to replace ALL our power demands with renewables does that mean they should be entirley disregarded ?
I'd rather see renewables promoted as a way of each household reducing their energy draw fron the national grid and promoting the idea of small changes like taking individual room lights or sockets off the ring main and charging each via a solar brick in the outside wall during the day - how many hours a day do you actually need a light on for, surely solar is good enough to charge a battery for 3-4 hours use these days?

I'd like to see small scale wind turbines combined with small solar panels to take a small amount of the burden on every home and factory and reduce overall reliance on power stations,the current feed in tarriff is not practical as a energy reduction policy as it only encourages power companies to look at it as a cash cow - but if each house was encouraged to reduce its energy demands by 5% and also generated 5% of its own needs then we are going to make a net gain.

If this is impractical then putting everyone on metered power and rationing it by need not by ability to purchase may be a way to push people who want to use more power into creating their own surplus

[M Paul Lloyd]

I think the practical side is going to difficult to reconcile to be honest. I am seeing a lot of houses in my village being fitted with solar panels, and even allowing for the British climate I would have jumped at the chance myslf but we don't have a south facing roof to fit them too, nor do half the houses around the local area and local planning bylaws make a wind turbine not something I expect to see anytime soon.

Inevitably rationing or at least increased taxation will come into force but I do agree that education is a key factor in as much as we all need to learn to use less energy and also to consider no saving to be too small as every little bit counts.

For example if this page were black with white text think how much less energy your screen would be using to read this message and then multiply that by all the computer screens in the country?

Worth a thought surely?

[Willxx]

My point was that we are an energy hungry society, that is unlikely to change barring major cataclysm, so a course of easy encouragement may help move us away from 100% reliance on the Grid.

It would be unpopular and impractical to try to get everyone moving back to black & white screens or not watching TV or disconnecting fridges and freezers but any small assistance should be welcomed as these can only lead the way and encourage people not to necessarily reduce consumption but think about where it comes from and if our lifestyles demand more than average putting the emphasis on the individual to support his or her own needs must be welcome?

I'm no green advocate and have certain concerns about the fashion to blame everything on climate change etc but if we don't intend to continue to pay a greater proportion of our incomes to energy providers we need to begin to encourage micro-generation.

[Jamie]

The real difficulty will arise when China and India all start wanting the same lifestyle as the West (and why shouldn't they). Processed food, TV's, mobiles, PCs, cars etc. Efficiency has to be the solution, simply because there ain't enough to go round.

[Healerman]

The difficult thing with this situation is that we tend to forget the meaning of the word "renewable". We tend to treat it as a "tag", rather than a statement. Reality check: if it isn't renewable, then by definition it will run out.

I believe the popular claim is that, if all the people in the world had an "American" lifestyle, it would take five Earths to support them, for typical Europeans, it's two and a half Earths and that to make humanity sustainable, we all need to maximise our footprints at the level of the average resident of India.

The simple reality is, we must achieve a 100% renewable energy or civilisation as we accept it now will ultimately collapse as non-renewable energy sources run out. We currently rely heavily on fossil fuels, but we can measure the effectiveness of that energy source in decades. Nuclear fission can provide us with power on a scale of a few centuries at best, before the natural reserves of fissile material become too tenuous to exploit. Fusion power has a lifespan of billions of years, but if we cannot master the fusion reactor, then it's going to have to be power from the Sun. That means, wind, waves, photovoltaic, thermal and photochemical. Unless, of course, we master something more exotic and as yet undiscovered. It's all very well to shrug our shoulders and say "someone will sort it out", but looking at the situation as it stands, that someone seems to be us, right here, right now.

There are, of course, alternatives. Alternatives that wouldn't suit most of us very much. Reduce man's global footprint by massive depopulation, or by returning to a near feudal system, with the majority of people living in the most simple conditions, with the benefits of "modern" society being granted to the priviledged few. Guess on which side of that divide you would find the speculators that have caused the current finacial crisis.

Renewable enrgy is not a myth. It is basic physics. We have made profligate use of energy sources that are in fact, renewable, but on a geological time scale. The end of this bonanza is in sight and we have no choice but to adapt and either reduce our consumption or increase our "renewable" sources. We are speeding towards the proverbial brick wall. The fact that many of us will no longer be alive when the crunch comes shouldn't be an excuse to turn our backs on the problem.