The Future Of Pawer

As we all know we can’t keep using fossil fuel (Petroleum, or crude oil, Coal and Natural Gas) because of serious environmental concerns (greenhouse Gas) and the fact they are not renewable. Some of the renewable energy we have today are Geothermal, Solar, Hydro, Tidal, Wind, Waste) they all have their disadvantages, then there is Nuclear, we will consider all of these as a replacement for what we have today.

• Waste: To generate power from our waste, Advantage Nill. Disadvantage greenhouse Gas. No More needs to be said about this one
• Solar: Soler is to generate power from the sun. Advantage of this is it is a renewable and solar penal can supply power for around 20 years before needing replacement with low maintenance. Disadvantage is when there is no sun (at Night or on overcast days) they don’t work, also solar is not a bass load generator, they also need a large area of land to produce enough energy. Even with enough battery power which would take up large land area, solar is not a bass load generator, this type of power is not feasible but governments around the world are going for it.
• Wind: To generate power from the wind, wind power has been around for more than 100 years and is only now starting to influence our generating needs in some countries, Like Solar the Advantage is it is a renewable and the turbines will last many years with low maintenance. Disadvantage is when there is no wind there is no power, wind also takes up lots of land, like solar we will need battery’s, wind is not a bass load generator, this type of power is not feasible but governments around the world are going for it.
• Tidal: We have not seen too much on Tidal. Advantage is it is a renewable and like Soler and wind it can only generate power as the tide comes in and out. Disadvantage no power generated at high or low tide, requires large amount of water space and is also not a base load generator.
• Geothermal: Geothermal is to generate power from the earths heat Advantage is very little land is needed, it is clean and environmentally safe can be used as base load, Farley cheap to develop. Disadvantage needs hot water or pockets near the surface of the planet.
• Hydro: Hydroelectricity is to make power from water. Advantage is a renewable, can be bas load, clean and carbon free, low maintenance. Disadvantage Needs good rainfall, lots of land to flood that could have environmental effects.
• Nuclear: Nuclear power is to get energy from a nuclear reaction that release nuclear energy to generate heat, and in most plants create steam then the rest of the plant is the same as coal generator plant. Advantage. Nuclear is a Carbon clean, requires little space, has a long-life time, is great for bas load. Disadvantage, Nuclear waste, and can be dangerous.

But when you look at the history of Nuclear energy there has only ben 3 Disasters in relations to power plants the first was the 1979 Three Mile Island, Partial Meltdown of reactor 2, a generation 2 reactor, Built in 1978 and was mostly human error as the tecs thought the instruments where reading wrong but it was a stuck valve, the second was the 1986 Chernobyl Disaster of reactor No 4 this was also human error as they were carrying out a test on the reactor and did not follow the checklist, This was a generation 2 built in 1979. The third was the 2011 Fukushima Disaster where they had a natural disaster that caused the lost of power to the plant and then a melt down on unit 1, 2 & 3 all of which were generation 1, Built in 1967 – 1969 – 1970.

They are now installing generation 3 reactors around the world with many planed as this is the best option for chip clean bas load power.

The big tragedy with the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl was the lost in public support and the Nuclear doomsayers that effectively dried up most research by the early 1990’s, just when Nuclear Scientist where on a breakthrough with a new and safer Nuclear generator, one in which they hade tested the exact case that happen in Fukushima and the plant shout down safety without any power. There are also now new ideas on Nuclear power reactors that will use the old waste products.

So in recap on all our choices, I would have to say why wouldn’t we look at Nuclear for base load the technology has been around for a long time, we have already made the mistakes and have learned from them, newer technology has been there for decades and we have not used it, but in saying that I think we also need a mix of Nuclear, Wind, Solar, Hydro and Geothermal. Coal and Gas should be made a thing of the past.

If you go solar like Australia you also need storage or Hydro to make up for when there is no Solar and a good example of where this would work is in Queensland where there is a lots of sunlight and when there is many days of rain like in the Townsville area in late January early February 2019 there where many dams just dumping there water, so if this could go through a hydro generator it would make up for the lost in solar. The problem we have in Australia is the Greens that don’t like Dams, Coal or any other type of good bas load power.

Now as an Australian I must ask how we are going to do this when our Government is against Nuclear and now, they don’t want Coal BUT WILL SEAL IT TO ANYONE. Up until the late 2000’s  we have hade cheap reliable power, but in recent years the grid in some states are starting to fail and the price of electricity have skyrocketed, this is due to the creation of the national electrical grid, privatisation of our network, a increase of environmental Legislation casing the closure of coal fired plants and trying to go environmentally safe with solar and wind.

Gary Parker
10 Febuary 2019

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