Posts from — March 2011

When you look at the difficulties faced in Japan following the huge earthquake which was itself followed by an enormous tsunami which knocked out several nuclear powerplants and their support services you have to wonder if nuclear power is such a good idea. Yes it is technically very clever and the facilities have been substantially undamaged by the actual earthquake but the tsunami apparently caused failures in the support systems that have led to the scary prospect of nuclear meltdown and the potential hazards of nuclear radioactivity leaks.

Do we really want to have such a potentially dangerous system sitting anywhere near human habitation?

The long term costs of nuclear energy have always been seriously underestimated. When we were first aware of the potential for nuclear power we were told the electricity would be almost free. The most expensive cost of this electricity would be the cost of printing out the bill. Ah, the lies told to justify things are quite shocking.

The cost of building and maintaining the nuclear facilities is huge but the cost of disposing of and managing the waste products for, perhaps a thousand years or more is incalculable. How can anybody have any idea what it will cost in a thousand years to even employ a security guard at the entrance to any disposal site. Let alone know how much the cost of ensuring the site remains safe and secure.

Solar energy is free. The only costs are in designing, manufacturing and maintaining the solar energy panels. They last for years and there are no waste products apart from the panels when they do reach the end of their life.

Solar farms may be expensive to set up initially but they will produce power at low cost for many years afterwards. They offer no threat to the local community and you can install solar panels on every roof in a city. There are limitations since power can only be produced during daylight hours but that could be overcome by suitable storage systems which can generate power overnight.

Solar power is the future. We just have to change focus from short term profits to long term sustainability and invest for the futrue. For us and for our children.