The lights are on...

[Osem]

... for now:

Britain risks running out of energy generating capacity in the winter of 2015-16, according to the energy regulator Ofgem.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19842401

But is anyone in government 'at home' when it comes to dealing with this problem? We've been hearing the warnings for years and they're still dithering so far as I can see.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Osem

But is anyone in government 'at home' when it comes to dealing with this problem?

Well they are at one of their homes, probably burning the 'plebs' in a roaring open fire.

It's because they keep kicking a decision down the can because, turns out, there is no miracle solution to it. Build the nuclear power stations and be done with it already.

[Osem]

Possibly But let's face it, the last lot were in for 13 years and seemed to do precious little about this problem and that's after having opened the immigration floodgates. The lack of foresight is quite bizarre and very worrying.

We need lots of great big nuclear power stations as soon as possible. We then need to convert Blackpool Tower into a drilling rig so we can get at all the shale gas. Meanwhile, anyone with any spare savings, put them in shares of whichever company makes the best petrol generators, because a lot of people are going to be buying them soon.

Originally Posted by Osem

Possibly But let's face it, the last lot were in for 13 years and seemed to do precious little about this problem and that's after having opened the immigration floodgates. The lack of foresight is quite bizarre and very worrying.

It's because governments look at the problem and they don't like the answer - nuclear power. The rest aren't feasible, solar and wind is nowhere near efficient enough yet to be a serious contender whereas fossil fuels pollute more, are more expensive and depend on a finite resource. Labour should have done something in the 13 years they had, they didn't, so now it's the current governments responsibility and they're not doing it either.

Adding shale gas to the energy mix in the US has caused a rapid and significant reduction in that country's carbon output, because it is far less polluting than the coal and oil it can immediately and directly replace. There is also enough of it to last a century.

This country's dash for wind power is a busted flush now the public has woken up to the sheer number of turbines that would be required to make a dent in our energy requirements. Once upon a time I would have argued that they were an interesting addition to the landscape but the problem now is they're absolutely everywhere, we've still barely begun, and they still cost an absolute fortune which we're all paying for in artificially inflated energy bills.

[Jimmy-J]

We need plenty of these---> Free Energy Generator

[Taf]

Treadmill generators in every city, town and village.

The unemployed forced to walk in them for long shifts day and night.

Or we could find ways to use fuel more efficiently and stop wasting it.

---------- Post added at 13:22 ---------- Previous post was at 13:15 ----------

And to add injury..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19830232

Electric cars might pollute much more than petrol or diesel-powered cars, according to new research.
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology study found greenhouse gas emissions rose dramatically if coal was used to produce the electricity.
Electric car factories also emitted more toxic waste than conventional car factories, their report in the Journal of Industrial Energy said.

[Ken W]

[QUOTE=Maggy J;35481667]Or we could find ways to use fuel more efficiently and stop wasting it.

---------- Post added at 13:22 ---------- Previous post was at 13:15 ----------

Switch off rather than leave TV, set top box excreta on standby.
For example the Virgin Media TIVO consumes 20 watts in standby with no recordings set.

Multiply that by the number of units that are left on standby.

[AdamD]

As much as I love the futuristic visions of a squeaky clean, renewable energy powered country, it simply isn't viable right now

I mean how many solar panels/turbines etc have been put up in the last 10 years, yet, we're still running out of spare capacity?

The only way forward for the time being, is nuclear.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by Chris

We need lots of great big nuclear power stations as soon as possible. We then need to convert Blackpool Tower into a drilling rig so we can get at all the shale gas. Meanwhile, anyone with any spare savings, put them in shares of whichever company makes the best petrol generators, because a lot of people are going to be buying them soon.

The nimby's will put a stop to any expansion

Originally Posted by Maggy J

Or we could find ways to use fuel more efficiently and stop wasting it.

We all have our part to play, however domestic CO2 production is less than 15% of the UK total and on current estimates, British homes are only going to manage to reduce their CO2 output by about 10%, or 1.5% of the total national emissions, by 2020. Domestic energy efficiency measures really are just spitting on an inferno.

The fact is, economic growth consumes energy. If the economy grows, then our energy consumption grows. The loudest voices demanding radical energy efficiency measures are luddite greens who would actually quite like our economy to collapse backwards into what they delusionally believe to be some sort of quasi-agrarian utopia.

If we need to reduce our CO2 emissions (and IMO it is an if), then the way to do that is by employing power generation methods that produce less CO2, not by futile attempts at using less energy.

[Jimmy-J]

Originally Posted by Sirius

The nimby's will put a stop to any explosion

I fixed that for you.