Germany has started to phrase out all of their nuclear power plants. The process of eliminating nuclear power from the German energy equation is expected to be done by the year 2020. The Green Party in Germany meanwhile celebrates the victory.
Being a green, I can’t help but join in the celebration. However, I believe nuclear power will be useful for the movement against pollution. Of course the radioactive waste will be a sensitive issue to most greens as the half life of material used for fuel in nuclear power plant is anything but rapid. Yet, I believe the risk-reward relationship in nuclear power plant tends to sway to the reward area. Regardless of the risk of meltdown, nuclear provides a cleaner alternative to coal power plant. And by far, nuclear power plant is one of the most cost efficient options.
Chernobyl was a disaster but two decades later, the technology related to nuclear power plant safety and the standard of conduct have been improved. Also, safety precaution is better though admittedly a total guarantee against meltdown is nowhere to be seen. Still, there are thousands of such power plants in the world but the frequency of meltdown is low. The last accident was a leakage in Japan but it was successfully contained rather quickly.
Anyway, in any case, the greens are pushing towards renewable energy. The green energy is no doubt the best option in the long run. With almost unlimited fuel, we won’t have to worry about the diminishing resources anymore nor will we be worrying about fuel price fluctuation. Green energy promises a stable source of clean energy.
In spite of this, there seems to be some opposition to the growth of green energy, especially concerning wind energy. Wind energy is derived from giant wind turbine constructed in an open area (on land or over the water) where the wind velocity is sufficiently fast. And when I say giant, I really mean something as tall as the Big Ben in London; even my imagination is too limited to imagine the wingspan of the wind-motivated-motor’s fan.
This wind powered generator is commonly found in cluster called wind farms.
The main opponent to wind power is perhaps the preservationists, a subset of the greens. They argue that this wind farms are detrimental towards the general scene; it is unnatural to fill an open space with hundreds of wind turbines and it hinders tourism. Such case has emerged in the US east coast (Vermont, Massachusetts) and in the UK (especially Scotland).
I feel that particular argument is weak since it is better to fill up an unused open space with quiet turbines rather than having to suffer smog. Besides, like what the British Wind Energy Association said, these wind turbines are the modern counterpart of the old wind mills that are commonly found in the Netherlands – the existence of the turbines itself are tourist attraction.
On the other hand, based on Denmark’s report on wind energy, these wind turbines are unreliable since electricity stop flowing when the wind stops. As a result, Denmark, which is highly dependent on wind energy, needs to import electricity when the wind god decides to rest.
Whatever it is, I’ll support the wind energy industry and in general, the renewable energy industry because of its unlimited fuel and unpolluted waste.
p/s – another reason why you shouldn’t publicly make a diary online. Do it the traditional way – offline.
pp/s – The __earthinc has been upgraded. Just a minor upgrade as I am trying to comply to the standard XHTML 1.0 and proper CSS. So I guess I could only say it is at version 2.1.1. Also, this is site is now licensed. I haven’t read the full impact yet (bad) but yeah, it’s properly licensed. I could really sue you if you steal anything.