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Originally Posted by peckstar
and whats the problem with renewable electricity rombles, apart from the fact that there is no such thing on a commercial scale.
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At the moment there is no major commercial-scale, baseload generating form of renewable electricity, in use in Australia. Yet a significant proportion of our electricity does already come from these sources. Currently 15% of South Australia's electricity comes from wind power, and that amount is growing rapidly. The more it grows, the cheaper it gets. If building one wind tower costs $X, building two towers will not cost two times $X, as a large part of the development cost can be spread across a larger number of towers.
If Enviro-mission can finally pull their finger out and build their Solar Tower facility at Buronga, near Mildura, that will be a massive boost to the availability of green, renewable electricity. The Solar Tower differs from conventional photo-voltaic solar electricy production in that it produces power 24/7, and is not as dependent upon consistant sunlight for its output. It is more efficient when it IS hot though - and that just happens to be when demand is highest. It has been proven to work, with a Spanish pilot plant generating power consistently for the seven years that it was operated back in the 1980's.
There are other forms being developed as well. Geothermal, or Hot Rock generation is being tested, and I saw something on the news in the last few months about a test facility starting up at Innamincka in SA's far north. All standard Nuclear fission does is generate heat to boil water to create steam to turn turbines to generate electricity. Geothermal power uses the hot rocks several km below the earths surface to create this steam, with the same result, without the radioactive waste. Fusion power is being developed as well - although I suspect we will have readily available hydrogen in all service stations before this is commercially ready - but watch out when it IS available - the power this will create will blow your mind!
The technology to generate a significant amount of renewable electricity exists today. With the right encouragement from governments - and a carbon trading scheme will be an important first step in this - we will see the technologies move from something for sceptics to scoff at, to being a major commercially viable part of our lives. If we were to look at coal for its true total cost - ie not just the dollars it costs to dig it up and burn it, but also the cost to the planet of the effects of that process - then it will cease to be seen as the cheap energy source that it is today. It will be easier to re-employ those who currently dig the coal up than it will be to find a new planet for us all to live on. I believe it is that serious. If I'm wrong, what will we really have lost? An awful lot of pollution out of the environment, and a few people might get different jobs. Is it worth taking the risk?