Call for sustainable non nuclear energy
New Greenpeace Chief Calls for Sustainable, Nuclear-Free Power Supply New York Times November 18, 2009 By JAMES KANTER - Kumi Naidoo speaks “…………..we can have a clean, sustainable power supply if we embrace existing technologies like wind and solar power. It is a priority to engage more people in this debate.Change on the scale needed will require popular support. People understand that coal and oil are dirty and nuclear power is dangerous. However the coal, oil and nuclear industries have spent years building their political connections. It will take sustained public pressure to cut through that and get real change…………
Nuclear power is a dangerous distraction to real solutions. When you extend a nuclear plant’s life beyond what it was designed for, you make an unsafe technology even more dangerous, create even more waste, and put off decisions on adopting real solutions…………………
The shift to a more intelligent grid is coming, consumers will benefit, industry will benefit and the planet will benefit. The obstacles are the fossil fuel lobby and the nuclear industry who would face increased competition. In the U.K. we’ve seen coal and nuclear companies — E.ON and EDF — asking the government to protect them from the growth of renewable energy. That tells us all we need to know about how winnable the campaign is, and who the obstacles are………………..
it’s time to have a fundamental rethink about the western lifestyle. We know that if everyone consumed at the same rate as an American we’d need eight planets just to support ourselves. But this isn’t just an issue about rich countries — the middle classes in China and India can make the same choices as their Western counterparts. So we need to make sure they get smart as well.
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This Month
Doncha get sick of all the nuclear hype? Meanwhile, where it’s really all happening is in truly CLEAN energy!
(This month on our Action page: 1. UK: Block the Builders is a campaign which aims, using nonviolent direct action, to prevent the building of new nuclear weapons facilities at AWE Aldermaston . 2. Belarus: A call for solidarity actions with Belarusian antinuclear movement on February 19-21)
For February 2010 we focus on RENEWABLE ENERGY and ENERGY EFFICIENCY
1. The most effective method of all: ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The false message of the nuclear lobby is that in order to reduce greenhouse gases, and have enough energy, we need nuclear energy.
In fact, both of these goals can be met quickly, cheaply and cleanly, by just stopping wasting energy.
Energy wastage can be stopped – in the home, in business, in transport, building and manufacturing. The European Plan has already shown how effectively energy can be saved through existing energy efficincy procedures. http://www.energyscience.org.au/FS04%20Energy%20Efficiency.pdf
Cost-effective energy management. There are many ways to implement cost effective energy in homes, offices, industries. Many countries are not doing this yet, due to market problems, lack of information, differing aims of landlords and tenants.lack of institutionalset-ups for delivering services such a sheating and cooling in the least costly way.
Government action would solve these problems by regulating energy performance standards for both existing and new buildings, appliances, equipment and industrial processes.
2. The other component: renewable energy – (and let’s not forget,- while there are set up and maintenance costs – the fuel is free.)
Gas is a good energy source to tide us over the change to renewables, and can provide back-up for solar. Wind power and Solar energy are advancing, but would require special assistance schemes.
The BASELOAD FALLACY
A baseload power station, in theory, provides elctricity 24 hours a day.. In practise, they are costly to manintain, and do break down.. So they have reserve plant, and peakload pland (gas turbines or hydro-electricity.
Renewable energy can provide several different baseload technologies.:
- bioenergy – burning crops and rsidues, or converting them to gas
- hot dry rock geothermal power
- solar thermal electricity, with heat storage in hot water or hot rocks
- large scale distributed wind power, with a small amount of occasional backup from peakload plant
Contrary to general opinion, wind power is generally not intermittent, when it is part of a system of several wind farms, or when connected to a national grid.
A renewable energy system would consist of a mix of different energy sources. Ultimately, its success would depend on some limit to economic and population growth.
http://www.energyscience.org.au/FS05%20Sust%20Energy.pdf
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