Before our fears of impending climatic doom panic us into a hasty decision on nuclear power, perhaps we should remember this. Every day, day in day out, more energy falls on the earth from the sun than mankind consumes in an entire year. If we were to cover 200 sq miles of the Sahara Desert with photovoltaic panels at current levels of efficiency, we could generate all the world's electrical requirements. If you install a solar PV tiled roof, you could prevent over 34 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions during its lifetime. Imagine the effect of that on only a small proportion of our rooftops, especially given our undertakings at Kyoto. Two billion people on earth have no electricity. Their energy comes from candles, kerosene or batteries. Often the monthly costs of running these are greater than the cost of a solar mortgage to pay for a good quality stand-alone PV system. Solar PV in third world economies could be hugely effective. Many modern buildings in cities are clad in materials costing upwards of £1,000 per square metre, i.e marble, granite etc. The bronze facade of the Westminster parliament office complex cost £7,000 per square metre. By contrast, solar PV cladding, which can look  every bit as attractive as marble or bronze, costs from as little as £500 per square metre. It would provide free and clean power to the building. In Germany, Japan and to a lesser extent certain American states, investment in PV is already huge. Typically, the Germans and Japanese realise its potential. In Germany they fit more PV roofs in a single month than we do in several years. Already they are constructig huge 'solar parks' with massive arrays of PV cells spread over many acres to provide power to entire towns. Solar PV is still in its infancy. If just a fraction of the investment we put into extracting fossil fuels went into developing this resource, we could massively improve efficiencies and produce a sustainable source of energy that is both free and clean. Indeed several of the world's major oil companies are now building PV assembly plants and the biggest producer of PV panels worldwide is BP. Solar PV is just one of a gamut of feasible renewable energy resources that, given the will, we could be rolling out on a worldwide scale. Although it sounds like the naive dreams of the 'hairshirt environnmental brigade', renewable energy could actually be the future of modern energy procurement. Before we try and replicate the sun within the confines of a reactor, perhaps we should look a little longer at the real thing.

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
DoW: Should we go nuclear?	09/01/05 19:26:00	Jeff Gear
Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	09/01/05 23:56:00	Richard Jennings
Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 01:29:00	Peter John
Market forces?	10/01/05 17:46:00	Jeff Gear
Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 04:09:00	Jim Lawes
Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 13:26:00	Stewart Dean
It's very simple:	10/01/05 14:34:00	Colin Murphy
Re:It's very simple:	10/01/05 15:22:00	Stewart Dean
I agree.	10/01/05 10:04:00	Colin Murphy
Let's mix it	10/01/05 11:17:00	Malcolm Peltu
Re:Let's mix it	10/01/05 13:33:00	Jono Miller
Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 18:14:00	Jonathan Bingham
Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 19:22:00	David Fox
Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 20:38:00	Jeff Gear
Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	10/01/05 21:42:00	Jonathan Bingham
Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	11/01/05 09:22:00	Jeff Gear
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	11/01/05 10:07:00	Jonathan Bingham
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	11/01/05 15:16:00	Jeff Gear
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	11/01/05 15:30:00	Asha Winterflood
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	11/01/05 17:33:00	Jonathan Bingham
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	12/01/05 22:35:00	Dominic Corp
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	15/01/05 18:23:00	David Fox
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	17/01/05 09:15:00	Dominic Corp
Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	16/01/05 16:39:00	Jeff Gear
Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	16/01/05 18:46:00	Peter John
Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	17/01/05 09:51:00	Jeff Gear
Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	17/01/05 10:03:00	Colin Murphy
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	17/01/05 13:22:00	Jim Lawes
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	17/01/05 13:38:00	Asha Winterflood
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:DoW: Should we go nuclear?	18/01/05 14:25:00	Jim Lawes

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