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Didcot coal fired power station has closed, although in good working order it ran out of hours allowed for this type of coal fired power station as directed by EU law.
Other stations are in the pipeline to be closed under the same legislation.
Struggle to understand why we are rigorously following these rules, Ok they are emitting carbon and do need replacing with more green energy types at some stage. if they still have useful life would you take into account the energy and resources used to replace them which must be huge, is it not better to use it until it is “worn out” than as opposed to replacing it.
When we consider our current level of imports from China, Asia etc. with power supplies all coming from mostly coal fired power stations “sweeping it under the carpet doesn’t come close.
Is it something like two coal fired power stations coming on line every week in China alone?
Surely some sort of tax on imports from nations not following EU style rules on carbon reduction.
Not to mention that we could be facing switch offs in the future if circumstances were right.Re: Power Station Closures
The minute you allow Energy to be supplied and dictated from outside a countries border your on a slippery slope. It seems to me that as far as EU legislation is concerned we have the wrong end of the balance. WEE Directive, Green Taxes, Wrong Shaped Fruit, You name it and us Brits are forced to follow the half baked rules were the rest of Europe seem to carry on regardless.
Imagine a Power Shortage, Imagine all power coming from Europe as much of it does. In the event of a serious crisis who do you think would get the energy ?
Its about time we started looking after our own interests instead of letting faceless european politicians run us. If that means prolonging the life of coal fired stations so what ! This country is no longer a major polluter you need to look to the USA, India and China for those accolades.
Re: Power Station Closures
madangler1 wrote:Absolute madness.
Unless you happen to be bidding for a wind farm or a nuclear power plant.
One makes sense, the other does not. IMO.
Both mean controversy ahead.
No less however than importing the coal to fuel the coal fired power plant.
Which gets you back to the debate over closing the pits.
Which gets you into a huge debate over the rights and wrongs of the history over all of that.
And, that’s before you even get into the debate about emissions.
Basically, it’s an awful lot more complex that a cursory look little below the surface allows. A debate that, regardless of how it goes and how many facts are presented, will always be emotive. With or without the EU thrown into it which, IMO, only muddies the water still further.
K.
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We are closing a few, rest of the world is building another 10000
http://m.guardian.co.uk/environment/201 … -institute
The Uk is beginning to really put its self in a worrying position.All the home grown manufactures are gone, almost all the major British companies have been sold to foreign owners, we are heavily reliant on imports of gas and oil for fuel, now we will be reliant externally for power as well the way things are going.
We seem to be the target of everything in the eu rules but never seem to benefit from it
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Soon the cooling towers at Didcot power station will feature on the TV news channels when they are dramatically blown up. The vast acres of land that once stored mountains of Polish coal once again restored back to fields of green grass, daisies and buttercups.
But rather than decommissioning all the sites generators and power distribution framework why don’t they instead bring in the drilling rigs? Drill deep down and install pipes to extract the endless supply of geothermal energy from within. Combine water to make steam as they did with the coal fires to turn the generators once more?
And atop the restored green fields place dozens of wind turbines (as Didcot is a well exposed windy spot on the Chilterns) to create even more free energy…..! 😀
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kwatt wrote:
madangler1 wrote:
Absolute madness.Unless you happen to be bidding for a wind farm or a nuclear power plant.
One makes sense, the other does not. IMO.
Both mean controversy ahead. K.
Even then Nuclear is not wholly the answer as in our case.
Hinkley Point C has just been approved. Will take at least 10 years to build, cost £14 Billion. Employ up to 25,000 during the build and maintain 1,000 operationally.
Sounds good, until you get to the flesh on the bones.
It is being built by Électricité de France, who as the name suggests are French. We threw the baby out with the bath water when previous governments sold the national supply industry.
Électricité de France (EdF) Have realised they are financially on a loser and are now pressurising the UK Government for a review of the “strike price” of generated power, known as the contract for difference.
At present the generating cost is fixed at just over £40 per M/Watt hour. EdF want this raised to £97 per M/Watt hour, and fixed at that price for 40 years. The Government looks likely to cave in at £80 for 50 years. That will immediately have an effect on the bill to the consumer.
Enough of the politics, It also becomes parochial.
This is the first of this type in the UK being pressurised water reactor. (Not to be confused with the type of water reactor such as Harrisburg Pennsylvania) As yet there isn’t another globally that uses this particular technology. There is one being built at Flamanville France, and another Olkiluoto Finland. Both are seriously over budget, and well past schedule.
A public enquiry took place in 1989 (Barnes Report) Among other things they advocated a by-pass must be built for Bridgwater & the Village of Cannington. EdF have refused to comply & managed to get this through despite heavy public opposition. This plant will be four times larger than the 1989 proposal.
For the next 10 years Minimum, we are to expect 9,000 buses, 7,500 HGV’s plus cars, white vans and existing traffic, per DAY, on roads that are already congested. (HGV according to EdF are trucks of 3 Axles or more)
Then there are the thousands of “imported” single male workers needed to construct the plant. Think of the crime night time economy etc.
Don’t even go there with the waste, to which they have not reached a solution.
Positives:- Lots of money, growth and opportunity in an area that is dying. The lights won’t go out, the EdF spin doctors tell us they will. Employment to a small degree, a lot of workers will be coming in from other parts of Europe.
I could go on all day on this subject, and I am not anti-nuclear.
So what’s the fix? I really don’t know.
Alex
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In simple terms the numerous UK Governments have sold us down the river at the same stroke compromising our energy securities. Since when have we seen eye to eye with the French on anything ?
I get sick of hearing about half baked ideas from mindless politicians who tell us all they know best, we can see from whatever they have a hand in, HMRC, NHS, Border Control, Public Health, they cock it it up.
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I don’t agree.
Have successive politicians made mistakes, sure they have. Half their cock ups they won’t even own up to, sure.
Do you really believe that they have all sold their souls and sold out the UK? I find that a little hard to believe and, TBH, I doubt many of them would have the gumption.
More likely, they thought they were doing the right thing but ended up not doing so. I often refer to such things as the law of unintended consequences.
As for all the cock ups you point to. I’d love to see many try to do better under the conditions, with the budgetary constraints and with the ever watchful and oh so ready to criticise media watching every single move.
Overspend, you’re an idiot.
Underspend, you’re an idiot and the service sucks.
Don’t create Utopia on Earth, you’re an idiot.
Say the wrong thing, you’re a publicly shamed idiot.
Pretty much, there’s not a lot that politicians can do right in the eyes of the media and public so they get voted in on single issues without a clue about much else other than that issue. Like football teams because the colour fits, or general mantra. Or, because granpa voted for them. Most likely haven’t a clue what or often even who they are voting for.
Volunteer to take on any of those you mention and I’d be willing to bet that within a year you’d be a publicly derided muppet in the media who want your head on a pike on Tower Bridge.
The alternative, chaos. Or we end up like Cyprus, Greece and a raft of others.
So on the whole, I don’t think they make a bad fist of it in general terms. We’re not bust and we still at least have an economy, which is doing much better than many.
The problem with the system we have is dead simple, you can’t please all the people all the time. We all just have to deal with that reality.
K.
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It is an absolutely no win situation however I have always believed that utilities such as Power And Gas should have remained under state control
They always spout that private competition drives down costs but it never happens. Should electricity and gas have remained under state control the prices would be the same if not lower as this is mostly dictated by wholesale fuel costs and the profits would be going directly into the public purse.
Now you have Royal Mail going, all selling off does is bring in short term lump sum but it screws you down the line.
An example of this is a local school was built with private investment, it cost £1.2M to build, over the life time of the deal the private developer will receive upwards of £17M
How the hell is that value for money.
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News out today is that the French are worried about the increasing number of electric cars on French roads. Olivier Grabette representing the national grid operator RTE warned that the top estimate of 2million vehicles on French roads by 2020 could raise electricity consumption by as much as 3{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d}…!
Sacré bleu! :shocked:
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Ev is not the way forward. It has a place for very low usage but for the masses its not the solution, you still need to produce that power to start with. Hydrogen Fuel Cell is the answer, you still have to produce it and fill the car with fuel (Hydrogen) so the existing system of refining and distribution is ready to go. Oil companies are putting billions behind it after all they aren’t just going to give up and close all the refineries and fuel stations once the oil is gone.
Its the closest solution that meets the system we have in place.
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I hear what you say Ken and understand the logic, however it is difficult to imagine that Not even the farmer boy would not see that by allowing essential services vital to the nations wellbeing to be sold off to a bunch of frogs would ever be in the interests of the country. Taking Party politics out of the equation but looking at politicians across all parties they have made so many bad choices whereby the Taxpayers have to suffer the fallout and foot the costs.
And the dammed if I do and dammed if I dont theory is of course right, the media is just a circus which I never much follow as just the like the politicians they are give to distortion and spin. They have sold of the Gold, squandered the oil reserves in Scotland, Filled the country up with moneysucking immigrants who they call migrants ! and then try and brainwash us that this is all good for us.
Yeah Right ! meanwhile back in real town you do not have to look far to see how the cutbacks now been wielded are effecting the many, how greedy energy companies are rubbing their hands, and the cheating banks what of them ?
They have committed crimes, cost this countries Taxpayers billions, and not one of them has been held truly accountable.There’s a lot at play here bigger than we know or can grasp.
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squadman wrote:They have sold of the Gold, squandered the oil reserves in Scotland, Filled the country up with moneysucking immigrants who they call migrants ! and then try and brainwash us that this is all good for us.
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madangler1 wrote:Ev is not the way forward. It has a place for very low usage but for the masses its not the solution, you still need to produce that power to start with. Hydrogen Fuel Cell is the answer
The trouble is hydrogen isn’t really a fuel, its an energy storage medium just like a battery is and producing it is highly inefficient if you’re splitting water with electricity- only 30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} or so I think.
Super-capacitor would be ideal for rapid charging and in theory, thousands of cycles,if anyone ever develops one thats viable that could fit under your back seat.
photo-voltaic panels on your house roof to top it up,never need to worry about fuel prices again…what a wonderful thing that would be 😯
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