| Subject: Modern nuclear power:Cure for global warming & mid-east war? |
Author:
Betty
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 19:45:47 09/26/04 Sun
First let me say, I will turn a deaf ear to anybody who suggests global warming doesn't exist. Contrary to what the propaganist & scientists paid for or promoted by Oil companies & the current administration claim, Global warming is not a theory, it's a fact, according to all scientists that don't work for US or UK governments or oil companies.
If you want to ingnore the truth, & believe everything some fast talking, sweet talking, guy says, then I will not argue with you for being so dumb.
I'm sure when the gulf stream slows, changes direction, & half the UK is under the ocean due to glacial melting, & the other half is a frozen tundra, maybe you'll blame Clinton, or Iraq for it rather than global warming.
So lets just throw the ignorant arguements aside... at least for now.
For most who don't live in the middle east, if it wasn't for oil concerns, couldn't care less if they murder each other, blow each other to bits down there, or starve to death in their stinking deserts anymore (which is what they'd do if people didn't want all that oil).
Global warming, health & environmental hazards of burning fossil fuel, rising costs, also make their oil less desireable. At the world's current consumption, the entire world's fossil fuel supply will be gone in 20 years... but because our consumption is increasing at an alarming rate, we'll more likely run out of fossil fuel in 10 years.
What are the alternatives? Whatever they are, we will be forced to choose them over fossil fuel, sooner or later, or industry & travel will shut down, & many will freeze to death every winter. Forget about the fireplace, most of the wood will be gone by then too.
Conservation: A good treatment but not a cure. But not wasting energy saves more of it. Look around, 70-90% of the energy you're using is wasted energy. Energy you don't really need to waste to maintain your decedant lifestyle.
Solar power: Too expensive. You'd better be very rich, live in a warm, almost cloudless environment, & learn very frugal energy conservation for it to suit your needs. Won't be enough energy in storage to heat your home on a cool night.
Wind power: OK if you live in a windy envoronment, AMF I'm considering a rooftop windmill to supplement my electric needs. Unless you're good at making a good sturdy homemade one, they're expensive. In most cases, unless you're rich & have enough acrage to set up a few big ones & a large electrical storage facility, you still won't be able to heat your home.
Home grown: Ethyl, methane, & alcohol fuel. Still a bit expensive. Not enough land in the world to grow & make enough of it to replace our current fossile fuel consumption. Creates pollutants & global warming gases, but not as bad as oil based fuels.
Coal, natural gas, propane, butane: Oops, those are fossile fuels too. They'll be all used up in 10-20 years. Coal burning is the most polluting & dangerous out of all of them. Contrary to popular belief... most of the US, UK, & Russia's electricity come from coal-fired turbines!
Nuclear Power (current technolgy-fission reaction): Doesn't normally produce any gases, harmful or otherwise. But in case of an accident or sabotage... look out! It also produces nuclear waste which is fatal to life for thousands of years. It does have the advantage of being just about as competitive in price & practacality a fossil fuel has become. Recent advances have started to make it safer, & more cost effective. So far I believe only France & Canada have opted to build more fission reactors. Fission technology is almost 60 years old. More advancements could have been made, but because of the nuclear waste issue, most studies & research in this area have been shelved for years. Only recently because of the impending fuel crissis, pollution, & global warming, have advances been made in the technology.
Fusion energy: It hasn't been invented yet although we hear lots about it. The sun is our nearest fusion reactor. When it is suppose to be invented... they say it'll be clean & safe, but who knows? It hasn't been invented yet. Best estimates put the first fusion reactor online decades after our fossil fuels have run out.
I would suspect any mass power generation will have it's hazards, & environmental impacts.
Hydrogen burning or hydrogen fuel cells: The easiest, cheapest way we now get hydrogen is by putting lots of electricity through lots of water to get a little hydrogen. The electricity used in the process is generated by burning lots of fossil fuels. Hydrogen is very exlposive, much, much, more than gasoline (petrol). But when it burns, it only gives of water vapor or stream. The hydrogen fuel cells have the advantage of holding more electricty per pound & volume, than other batteries... which is why they're used on US spacecraft. It's our current best source of portable power, for use in electric cars & future laptops. But it takes a lot of electricity to get that hydrogen to fuel them. Fuel cells can be likened to batteries, the energy came from somewhere else, & then re-converted to electricity... an energy storage device, not a generator of energy.
Batteries: They use either chemical energy, originally created with electricity, or the rechargable kind, where the electricity you put in is all the electricity you get out of them... with some cosiderable losses & waste along the way.
Geothermal energy: Yeah, great if you live near a stable lava or steam vent.
Lightning: Yeah sure Frankenstein. How do you store it? A bolt only lasts a fraction of a second, even though it can be millions of volts at millions of amps, there is no technology to store it all. Even if there were a way to store it, a large lightning bolt would power a small city like Buffalo for about a second.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 