Nuclear power is, at the moment, the only sensible option.  Either we continue to be massively reliant upon our neighbours for our energy, or we built the plants and become self-sufficient like any sane country would.  Greenpeace shoot themselves in the foot; putting off nuclear power just means burning more coal.

i think there is definatly a place for nuclear power, but i think a good percentage should be renewable, aim for 25% or somthing.
there is 1000s of square miles in scotland, wales and ireland of very windswept sparsly populated areas.

I also think building developers should be forced to invest more in the homes they build. For example if every new house built was forced to have solar roof tiles(electricity) and/or ground source heat pumps(hot water/radiators) then that will make a massive difference.
The above would cost less than Ã,£15k which compared to the price of a house is very low.

Quote from: DEViANCEThe above would cost less than Ã,£15k which compared to the price of a house is very low at the moment.

Corrected

Quote from: maximusotterWouldnt a push for energy efficiency do just as much good as opening another nuke plant?

Yes; councils are given money to spend on energy schemes but seem loath to spend it (the company I work for spend a lot of time trying to get them to spend it on us!). If government legislated that people must improve the insulation of their homes and provided the funds to do so this would make a big difference. Theyre doing it now for recycling so why not fling millions of tons of glass fibre into peoples lofts? Building regs require that new houses have 300mm of loft insulation but why not double/triple this and pay for it, for old and new houses? This seems to be working in Scandinavia. Its a bit like the car industry, if you leave it up to the manufacturers they wont lift a finger to produce greener vehicles (everyday or performance). Id rather see a big brother government that says, you must improve the energy performance of your home, than one that says, thatll be Ã,£5 to drive out of your street.

Quote from: Binary Shadow

Quote from: DEViANCEThe above would cost less than Ã,£15k which compared to the price of a house is very low at the moment.

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i dont understand?

the price of houses is going up, the price of these renewable techs is going down, so why only at the moment?

QuoteIt takes 10 years to build a nuclear power station so they certainly wont help in the short term either. it costs at least Ã,£1.7 billion to build one so they arent cheap either. Hard nosed businessmen wont invest unless they get a *guaranteed* return on that. There is only one being constructed ATM and that is massively over its original construction costs.

small price to pay for energy security/stability - Im all for govt funding of nuke stations in the short/medium term + initiatives for renewable resources in the long term

factor in the cost of securing our oil and gas reserves and the nuke option is actually pretty good value

no need for venture capital - though Im normally fairly liberal about the economy I see no harm in the state funding some of this - after all the state also foots the bill for Iraq etc..

Quote from: DEViANCE

Quote from: Binary Shadow

Quote from: DEViANCEThe above would cost less than Ã,£15k which compared to the price of a house is very low at the moment.

Corrected

i dont understand?

the price of houses is going up, the price of these renewable techs is going down, so why only at the moment?

because lets face it house prices cannot continue to rise forever they will come crashing back down at some point and when that happens Ã,£15 will seem expensive let alone Ã,£15k

id certainly rather see my taxes sunk into a nuclear reactor than thrown at illegals and work dodgers

Quote from: funkychicken9000Nuclear power is, at the moment, the only sensible option.  Either we continue to be massively reliant upon our neighbours for our energy, or we built the plants and become self-sufficient like any sane country would.  Greenpeace shoot themselves in the foot; putting off nuclear power just means burning more coal.

Can you prove that? Should be easy enough to put a load of underwater turbines in the gulf stream and generate loads of power. Greenpeace are taking two alternatives and trying to work out which is worse. Long term its nuclear power. There is no such thing as a quick fix for this problem, no matter how much we would like it.

Quote from: Binary Shadow

Quote from: DEViANCE

Quote from: Binary Shadow

Quote from: DEViANCEThe above would cost less than Ã,£15k which compared to the price of a house is very low at the moment.

Corrected

i dont understand?

the price of houses is going up, the price of these renewable techs is going down, so why only at the moment?

because lets face it house prices cannot continue to rise forever they will come crashing back down at some point and when that happens Ã,£15 will seem expensive let alone Ã,£15k

You mean when the tories get back in?  

TBH I would like to see all gas central heating systems to have to generate electricity as well as providing heat. That might be a few hundred quid more expensive initially but worth it in the longer term. There are millions of cubic feet of gas going up just to provide heat when they could be generating electricity too. A steam engine for peeps who use wood would be nice too. Heats the home and generates free light.

We already have a fusion reactor - its that giant fireball in the sky otherwise known as The Sun...

id hardly say we have it, we just happen to be flying round it

hmm looks like this guy has an issue with serious lol

Quote from: SeriousDont think that nuclear is carbon neutral either, you have to build the plant, mine the ore, extract the fuel, transport it around the world and then put it somewhere safe for posterity.

true but then you do a lot of that with coal fired stations.. then burn the stuff as well!

Quote from: Binary Shadowhmm looks like this guy has an issue with serious lol

Ive warned DeltaZero twice in the past that if he started trying to irritate me, or anyone else, his posts would somehow vanish.

*sweenster runs before serious can gag him*