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Gotta start somewhere before the lights start going out.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
If you said to all the farmers/landowners who have rivers and streams on their land that you would connect them to the grid for free if they can install something that would generate the power, that would probably be a better use of government subidies than most of what they use them on at the moment. Most farmers are pretty practical. They could probably find a way to install something very cheaply during a quieter time of the year.
There must be thousands of old mill streams and water wheels around the country as well. Why not re-use these with a water wheel connected to a turbine? Individually they might not amount to much, but if you had 10,000 of them they would make a difference.
I agree with Crunchman, although I think mini hydro plants, unless they are diversionary to the main course of the river won't get a look in, due to wildlife concerns. Sometimes makes me wonder what politicians are on about, the real age of sustainability was around the late 18th century.
New build houses should be fitted with roof hot water pipes and ground heat pumps and wind turbines and possibly solar as standard I reckon and insulation still isn't up to the mark.
I said before, I'd love to harvest the heat from compost, but I doubt the EA or the Council would give me permission to dump poxy amounts, I mean a cubic metre or two a fortnight, of green waste here. Those aerobic bacteria would heat a house for a fortnight and provide enough hot water. Sadly, can't see it happening though.
Would like to cook and heat using poo gas though. It would be a real motivation to eat more, after all, the more you flush, the more you can cook.
If you think about it so much energy is still wasted. I mean condensing combi boilers with heat exchanges have only just been made mandatory for example. Regarding energy wastage, we are still in the stone age, hindered by bureaucracy and legislated for stupid ideas like CFL lightbulbs.
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
LED is probably the cleanest overall. CFL might actually be the worst - they were originally promoted more to reduce the need for new power generation rather than because the bulbs were better.
LED really is the right solution. The light is good, there's no start-up dim period, and the life expectancy is huge - in theory it should be unlimited if the circuitry doesn't get too hot, although it's not claimed as such. I've just fitted a 12W LED in my workshop bench spotlight, replacing a 60W incandescent, and it's actually brighter and whiter - but not that nasty fluorescent whiteness.
When you think about it, it really is a bit daft to generate light by heating a filament white hot and throwing 90% of the energy away in the process...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
We need a few coal fired plants as backup to keep the lights on .. the Germans are building new coal fired plants ..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26820405
Remember, it's easier to criticise than create!
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Now I want a kebab
Seriously: If you value it, take/fetch it yourself
Lots of problems to solve but they only have to become a little cheaper and a little bit more efficient (soon) and new buildings will be partially covered in them.
Slightly more complicated (due to massive worries about World Conflict and maybe Storage)......we will cover the deserts in Panels. Possibly.
Apparently.
THing is, if you argue against "green" energy, you get lambasted for ignorign "facs" and being an almost holocaust denier. (OK not that sever, but you get my point).
What we need to do is reopen all our coal mines, most efficient in the world they were, and invest in removing CO2 from the waste products of fossil fuels. Or something.
That way, when I drive over the pennines next, I won't see some bastard big ferking fan on a nice hill. Plus, eventually the weather will warm up (form all that climate change) and I won't need to go abroad as much to have a sunny holiday.
Green party my arse.
Wind farms?- stick em all in the sea. It's always windy when you go out in a boat. Always. Even on a rowing boat on the river Nidd, gets windy.
Nil Satis Nisi Optimum
Burning wood on a bonfire actually has zero CO2 immisions if the wood is from a sustainable source. I.e. you plant a new tree for every tree you burn. The equivalent CO2 is extracted from the air to grow the tree.
I was wondering myself could be not put a load of heat pump pipes down our sewers, we must pour a stupid amount of waste heat down there (every hot bath and shower), also why not have air conditioning units pump there heat into the sewer as well there would be a lot of laten heat to be gathered.
Now if we could produce less effiencient but much cheaper photovolteic cells so I could plaster my entire roof for a couple of hundred quid even if just to run a couple of appliances and make my money back in a few years, I'd be happy.