Britain - The Official Thread

[PeterJB]

Wind power seems like a reasonable choice to me, with all this coastline we may as well exploit it.

 

[Dennisch]

Wind power seems like a reasonable choice to me, with all this coastline we may as well exploit it.

Until you have a couple of windfarms out there.

Then the same people who bitch about coal and nuclear power start bitching about horizon pollution.

 

[Liquid]

Wind power doesn't generate enough juice to satisfy our demands.

Folks in Staffordshire or Rutland can't be relying on the costal winds of Flintshire or Yorkshire, can they?

Until you have a couple of windfarms out there.

Then the same people who bitch about coal and nuclear power start bitching about horizon pollution.

I don't have a problem with them as eyesores. It's as I said above; they don't produce enough power.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Wind power seems like a reasonable choice to me, with all this coastline we may as well exploit it.

It's just not regular enough.

The flip side is that it's a great temporary measure. It leaves land free for grazing and once removed all that will remain is concrete foundations that can easily be removed or buried.

 

[aadil717]

I don't find windfarms an eyesore at all, I actually like the way they look, anyone else agree?

 

[priesty_lfc]

I don't find windfarms an eyesore at all, I actually like the way they look, anyone else agree?

Yeah, admittedly I don't have any where I live but if I did it wouldn't bother me.

 

[Keef]

I don't find windfarms an eyesore at all, I actually like the way they look, anyone else agree?

I don't live near any but I think they're really cool looking. I like the blend of nature and science that they provide.

 

[PeterJB]

I like the look of them because they represent clean, infinite power.

 

[Liquid]

Lack of consistent supply of electricity aside*, it's supposedly the noise which is the worst part about wind turbines. Which isn't a problem if they're offshore, but I've passed a few onshore wind farms and they can be quite vibratous.

*Rhyl Flats is a 25 turbine wind farm off the North Wales coast, which has a maximum output of 90 MW. The nearby Connah's Quay power station is a gas-fired, four turbine station which has a maximum output of 1,420 MW.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I think the image of them is much more widely accepted by the "ipod" generation that appreciate clean white lines as a sign of high technology.

Compared to an older generation that compare it to boring white goods like their fridge.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Wind power seems like a reasonable choice to me, with all this coastline we may as well exploit it.

Hasn't anyone ever considered that with all of it's coastline Britain should invest in tidal and wave power? 💡

 

[MatskiMonk]

Hasn't anyone ever considered that with all of it's coastline Britain should invest in tidal and wave power? 💡

I'm pretty sure that would be a 'drop in the ocean' as far as it's contribution to our energy needs goes....

 

[Roger the Horse]

I'm pretty sure that would be a 'drop in the ocean' as far as it's contribution to our energy needs goes....

Britain actually has an energy surplus. Well, it did last time I checked, which was a couple of months ago.

 

[Nessy]

The UK being an island, makes sense to take advantage of wave/tidal power (don't know the pros & cons though).
What year are we? that's right-2012, hasn't anyone managed to produce cold fusion yet?...

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

The UK being an island, makes sense to take advantage of wave/tidal power (don't know the pros & cons though).
What year are we? that's right-2012, hasn't anyone managed to produce cold fusion yet?...

Building anything at sea (including offshore wind farms) is ridiculously expensive and the technologies involved in wave/tidal power are in their infancy. It also has the same problem as a wind farms, it simply cannot produce enough power (yet).

 

[Emptyone]

The UK being an island, makes sense to take advantage of wave/tidal power (don't know the pros & cons though).
What year are we? that's right-2012, hasn't anyone managed to produce cold fusion yet?...

Cold fusion isn't a reliable power source, but has been done (at this point I have to note supposedly) in the lab, using palladium rods, heavy water and some current.

More on topic, Nuclear seems the way forward, if someone manages to get the plants contracted, plus convince the public a disaster won't happen. So a tricky road ahead.

 

[Sureboss]

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Severn-Barrage-Tidal-Power.htm

Though it will probably never happen with the effects on wildlife it would have. E-ON have plans to build a big offshore windfarm here, that would be about 190 turbines and would generate energy for about half a million homes.

 

[Roger the Horse]

More on topic, Nuclear seems the way forward, if someone manages to get the plants contracted, plus convince the public a disaster won't happen. So a tricky road ahead.

Thorium Liquid Salt reactors are the way forward. If we can actually get them to work and get it into the public's heads that it is damn near IMPOSSIBLE for one of those things to melt down, and that almost no radioactive waste is produced at the end.

TLS! TLS! TLS!

 

[Liquid]

Do explain the TLS process.

 

[Emptyone]

Thorium Liquid Salt reactors are the way forward. If we can actually get them to work and get it into the public's heads that it is damn near IMPOSSIBLE for one of those things to melt down, and that almost no radioactive waste is produced at the end.

TLS! TLS! TLS!

Thorium is better, but you can't make weapons out of it, so no one is going to use it.

 

[Nessy]

Oh okay, so tidal/wave power maybe isn't the direction we should be heading then (ATM).
I was only joking about the cold fusion thing, hadn't even realised people out there had managed to do it... but unreliable?, that's disappointing to hear.
TLS sounds very interesting, why hasn't it been better publicised?... mind you, i don't exactly go looking for these things, i just assume the news in general will inform the masses .. wishful thinking, i know.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Hasn't anyone ever considered that with all of it's coastline Britain should invest in tidal and wave power?

Yes, but they both have their downfalls.

Wave power is much like wind. Cheap and temperamental. Can't make power on a calm-water day or on choppy high-seas. It has to be in that middle 90%.

Tidal power involved either barrage (See Severn barrage) or lagoon (see Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon). Barrages require a huge construction cost of blocking an entire estuary with projects like the Severn being valued at Billions. On top of that the environmental affect of flooding the mud flats and damaging the river eco-system. Lagoons involve building a pool in the middle of the sea that control the flow in and out through generators. What people (in Swansea) haven't realised yet is that at low tide (twice a day) what you will see is a big concrete wall out at sea, probably a nice shade of grey.

The frustrating thing for this is my locality, Swansea, has the chance to be a central hub for renewable energy, but apart from wind farms no one is prepared to commit.

Britain actually has an energy surplus. Well, it did last time I checked, which was a couple of months ago.

We may have an energy production surplus, but we import a lot of fossil fuels from abroad to power our grid, and also some energy from France and their abundance of Nuclear power.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Thorium is better, but you can't make weapons out of it, so no one is going to use it.

The irony being that the fact you can't make weapons out of Thorium is one of the things that makes it better... And India has been looking into it, as it would be profitable for them as they have rich reserves of Thorium.

 

[MatskiMonk]

We should build giant hand cranked generators in every town, next to the job centre. If you claim anything for being unemployed, or you receive benefits for anything and 'choose' not to work because there are no jobs that 'offer the right hours', then you spend your hours or days cranking the generator.

Vote MatksiMonk, I promise to lower unemployment, lower our dependency on fossil fuels and increase the health of the population.

 

[ExigeEvan]

We should build giant hand cranked generators in every town, next to the job centre. If you claim anything for being unemployed, or you receive benefits for anything and 'choose' not to work because there are no jobs that 'offer the right hours', then you spend your hours or days cranking the generator.

Vote MatksiMonk, I promise to lower unemployment, lower our dependency on fossil fuels and increase the health of the population.

It's common knowledge human wheels are more efficient

 

[MatskiMonk]

It's common knowledge human wheels are more efficient

Ah, I see I have reliable Minister for Human Efficiencies!

 

[homeforsummer]

Late to the party on the graph thing, but this is me:

That's more or less where I thought it'd be. And presumably makes me closest to a Lib Dem in the UK.

 

[Roger the Horse]

I'm not so sure this test is accurate. I'd rate myself a 0,0 personally...

 

[homeforsummer]

THE TEST NEVER LIES!

Seriously though, if you'd rate yourself dead centre then the answers you gave probably wouldn't have come up with a score that essentially makes you this guy:

 

[Roger the Horse]

THE TEST NEVER LIES!

Seriously though, if you'd rate yourself dead centre then the answers you gave probably wouldn't have come up with a score that essentially makes you this guy:

How many drugs do people honestly think I take?





Answer: None. I'll try to stop people from even drinking alcohol if I can, and would never consider taking any kind of drugs myself unless I was prescribed them by my doctor. I also have been known to attempt to talk people out of going to far in a relationship they've only been in for a few months and find pornography to be incredibly wrong. See how I'm confused as to my score.