Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
I am pretty sure that over the years some clever folk have formulated fuels that are more environmentally friendly and the rich oil producing countries have got wind of it and put a stop to it.
We have a country that is surrounded by the sea...we have tides twice a day...regular as clockwork, but yet we blight our countryside with ugly inefficient wind turbines that blight the lives of those who live in the vicinty(a constant low hum, disrupted electrical signals etc).
Now I know that the job of engineering the mechanics to enable tidal power would present some difficulties...but surely these can be overcome knowing that this is truly environmentally friendly...and is a constant source of power....where wind turbines are not. The wind does not always blow...it does not always blow from the right direction and if it is too windy the damn things have to be turned off.
Very effective - NOT!
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Margaret, you are quite right about extracting energy from the sea. It is a formidable engineering challenge and one that might have been a much better use of the £70B or so that is being spent on HS2. What is needed is a properly financed and directed research program extending over quite a few years, not the current situation where it is left to under-financed entropeneurs working on their own pet schemes. The big money is going into wind farms and the like simply because its an easy technology with safe returns.
In fact the whole energy situation is riddled with un-coordinated fads and fancies on a grand scale with lots of ridiculous undesirable side effects.