For the love of g*d

Ok

So again i feel motivated to have a brain dump. But this time on the environmental and econimcal subject of Resources. By resources, i mean engery resources and by energy resources i mean the currently debate and discussion revolving around the introduction of Nuclear energy into the existing energy market of Australia.

Maybe recently you might of seen quite alot of talk about Australia introducing Nulcear Power as a means of reducing carbon commissions and countering problems carbon has on global warning.

The argument well from my limited yet opinioned mind;

Australia is bascially and historically always been a coal powered country. As you all know, or you might of guessed, coal is one hell of a dirty way to create energy. You see, burning coal has been around for a very long time. It was part of the industrial revolution in europe and i went to this exhibition at the Museum of Science in London which had a little bit of information about it.

So how do u extract energy, or in Australia's case, electrical energy from coal. The basics are that you mine coal, then u crush it up, then u chuck it in a big furnace and you burn the hell out of it. You see coal, burns for quite along time and it always burns very very very hot (hence having coals for ur webber bbq). Now this big furnace, is connected to a boiler which has water in it, due to the amount of heat generated from burning the coal, the water is heated and turns to steam. Now this steam then turns turbines and creates electricity. Arhh the marvels of modern man.

Its quite a simple process...in realife there is alot of refinement and stuff to the process but generally thats how it goes.

The problem with this, is that due to the burning of coal........like the burning of anything lets off alot of smoke. In this case, its alot of Carbon dioxide (CO2) into the Atmosphere, and lots of CO2 in the atmosphere aint for good no-one, just watch Al gore's "The inconvenient truth" about that!.

So with the current population...starting to care more about the environment, or maybe, learning more about the environment, we all suddenly want to become greener. Now big companies are starting to take note of this so to stay one step ahead to make lots of mullah, the nuclear debate is back on the agenda. You see, the gonvernment is in a bit of a sticky situation.

On one hand, they have the coal industry which, employs thousands of australian, makes lots of money but is starting to come out of flavour with the public (due to environmental issues).

Then on the otherhand, they have the Nuclear Industry. The problem with the nuclear industry is that.....when the average joe thinks of nuclear there is an automatic reaction to say "shit that stuffs unsafe and way not too cool". It could be from all the movies we watch, that big radiation sign meaning Danger Danger Danger, Just look below, what do u think as soon as u see it?
Anyways, the government now has to sell us all the benefits of Nuclear power. Just like it did to get the GST in a while back. And its already started. John Howard instead of calling it Coal Power, is now using the more descriptive 'Dirty Coal Power'. Thats no joke. 1year ago he wasnt calling it Dirty Coal Power, but suddenly ...wow...its got all Dirrrrrty. You have just got to love how language is used as such a tool for power.

Before i continue, a quick lowdown on how Nuclear power works. Basically, a process called fission happens where u split the nuclear fuel (uranium) and when you do this lots of energy is released and with this energy it heats water and then turns into steam which again turns turbines and creates energy in this case, electricity again. The by products as you might of guessed is a hell of alot of steam (not too bad at all) and then nuclear waste, the archillies heel in nuclear power.


The Scientific Approach.

Scientifically...or taking the facts approach, Nuclear power is cleaner, more efficient and more effective then using fossil fuels like coal. Yes, theres the entire debate about nuclear waste and how to store it. This is basically the main problem with Nuclear. What to do with the waste product which has a half-life of 4.5billion years. Well we just dont really know. Thats the problem.......theres heaps of research in it but we just cant figure it out. So the government is going to have educate us on how to do this, but instead of focusing on this, they will obviously focus on the benefits, which scientifically speaking are alot better then coal burning.

So, nuclear power is more efficient its better for the environment (you'll hear heaps about that in the news soon) and produces more enegrgy / weight for how much you have to mine then coal. So nuclear power isnt such a bad alternative is it? Its acutally better then burning coal? So whats my point?

WELL, the entire reason i have typed this spiel, is that in order for nuclear power to become accessible and economically viable (i use that alot, thats how governments think) it needs to have quite alot of cash from the government in order to subsidise the building of the first nuclear plant, and i forgot to tell you nuclear power is a lil bit more expensive to mine / refine then coal so it needs help in order to get it up and running. Now, you wont hear too much about how much more expensive nuclear power is to get then coal, but you will hear about how much better it is for the environment.

So the government is going to spend a hell of a lot doing a study to see just how much it will cost us (the taxpayer) and then pay for the creation of the plant if approved.

The only problem i have with this ...is that ...well...arent we all just missing the fucking point here?

Ill some it up to u and see if you can see something i have not mentioned yet.


Coal = dirty fuel
nuclear = cleaner, efficient (plus every other developed country uses it as power source, france produces 80% of its energy from nuclear). Better then coal.

Problem i see? we are missing the entire fucking point. Why should we be investing huge sums of money into the advancement of nuclear power, when we should be investing in renewable resources!!! you know the UNLIMTED, FREE, ENTIRELY CLEAN resources of ....whats that in the sky;

THE SUN!!! and what cools us down in the afternoon
THE WIND and if that doesnt cool us down what does
THE WATER.

So thats Solar, Wind and Hydro as souces of energy. This is where all our money into R&D and stuff should go. Portugal and Spain both are trying to utilise these sources in order to become entirely dependent on renewable resources. Why Dont We?

Sure, atm we cant extract too much energy from them compared to coal/nuclear but fuck. There free, clean and UNLIMITED. You see, both coal and uranium are both limited resources so they will run-out someday. Hmm i hope i make sense.

Anyways, as it is with anything, man only creates in the desperate time of need. Hence not having to worry about that electric/solar car just yet. Just wait till the fossil fuel - oil totally runs out then we will finially put more money/effort into that area.

I believe this could be the same thing for renewable resources. It just wont happen until it has too. But maybe im wrong, maybe after u read this u will be motivated to research yourself and come up with the ultimate source of energy, just like in that movie Chain Reaction, but then again maybe someone has, but they wont release it? maybe its a conspiracy ...maybe the movie Chain reaction is real life......


who knows.....

*twilight zone music*