Hey hey!! Bimbo is back and full of beans. Not literally, if I was going to be literal I’d have said Bimbo is back and full of pita bread and banana smothie but that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I did have some beans in my pita bread earlier but I’m certainly not full of them, and anyway…….
Right ok in a return to form I’m about to get really cross about something but it involves energy production instead of cancer, (now I bet that sentence has never been used before in the whole history of everything).
The go ahead has just been given for 10 new nuclear power stations, (see the little linky). The governments arguments (Department of Energy and Climate Change) are just all wrong, so yes we need to do something now I do agree with that. We need to reduce our carbon emissions big time. One way is to give this freaking country a shake-up. We need to reduce our energy consumption but no government is ever going to encourage that too much as it would involve making unpopular decisions, can you remember the furore created by getting rid of non energy efficient light bulbs?! If such a fuss can be caused by something that I had been whinging about for about a decade then imagine what the following will do to the small minded idiotic Daily Mail readers. New build homes should all now have to adhere to the code for sustainable homes not just certain councils, and the code needs to be stronger. Solar water heating should now be fitted as standard, solar panels for lighting where feasible, wind turbines in new housing estates, (and none of your NIMBY crap, you use electricity it has to be produced somehow so deal with it and personally I think wind turbines are beautiful). So in my humble dizzy opinion that should have been the first step in making us a more efficient country in the first place, but no the governments decides it’s first action will be to commission new nuclear power stations that take a freaking eon to build and make safe. The first should be producing electricity by 2018 and that’s if it’s fast tracked!! What also worries me is if we go further along this path there will be no way back. The cost of nuclear is huge and it is a very long-term commitment. I can’t see renewables featuring much if this addition to our nuclear family, (see what I did there!) happens.
Secondly instead of ploughing money into nuclear how about a bit of cash for the lesser known alternatives? What about Pelamis, (the sea snake hisssss) And my personal favourite which if perfected could actually be an end to coal/oil and nuclear power stations; harnessing the power of Osmosis. In this country with our huge amount of coast line it could just be immense. It would also mitigate the problems that the proposed Severn barrage would cause by blocking the estuary as no barrage would be needed, they can even be built underground to keep the NIMBYs happy, not that I am pandering to them. Also and I do appreciate that the effect of this will be minimal but how about installing small scale hydropower, (yes indeed I had to get hydrogeekery in somewhere) on sewage work outfalls. Even if it just powers the plant itself, that’ll reduce power consumption and should also bring water bills down. And while you’re at it submergible hydro generators should be more accepted, I can’t get into the details of this as it would clash with my job but .. actually no, I’m going to save this for another blog as it is my particular forte, bet you can’t wait!
Credit where credit is due however, Ed Miliband has suggested changes to the planning system to make it less tedious although this does incorporate planning for all types of power station.
Ooh that felt good. I apologise if it is lacking the usual Bimbo edge but give me time.
