ALTERNATIVES ABANDONED

You don’t need to be a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows…a few years ago (two maybe?) it seemed like there was a genuine move to renewable energy. More perhaps out of the slow dawning realisation that there was some moola in it – rather than any great commitment to anything as noble as say alternative energy. Oh no no. But what the hey, get the technology in by hook or by (New Labour) crook and we’ll sort the rest out as we go along.

But headlines like: “WAVE POWER WARNING AS ORKNEY WAVE FARM TO BE "ABANDONED" kind of give the game away don’t they?

Now to lose one appropriate energy project is careless but to lose two…Friends of the Earth today demanded that government put its money where its mouth is and properly back marine renewable technologies. The call comes in response to news that plans to build the world's largest wave farm in Orkney are set to be scrapped because of a lack of government funding.

The news comes in the same week Scottish firm Wavegen was saved from closure by a German energy company and in the same month that Scottish firm Ocean Power Delivery announced its first order to build a wave farm using its Pelamis machine would not be the UK - but in Portugal.

Friends of the Earth Scotland's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren, said:

"Plans to tackle climate change and create jobs through harnessing clean energy from around our coastline are now seriously at risk. Unless ministers get a grip of the situation we can kiss goodbye to becoming world leaders in this energy technology, just as failed to do with wind power. It is now time for government to put its money where its mouth is and properly back marine renewables.

"Friends of the Earth has been warning for sometime that more needed to be done by government in this area. We just hope ministers see the warning signs and act appropriately and with speed. Sadly, there are some within government who support a return to nuclear power and will be quietly hoping they fail in this respect."

See: Orkney wave farm abandoned, Independent on Sunday

How that whole Green G8 thing’s going to run I just can’t wait and see…

2 comments

You'd be a great PR for someone - just take what's said to you as the law.
Have a wee root around on the web for James Lovelock - creator of the Gaia hypothesis, the green movement and the idea of Ecology instead of environmentalism. He used to be the darling scientist of all greens until last year - when he dared to suggest the only way to deal with our world as it is (many people, getting more so - Think China Titch) is to use Nuclear energy. Now, nuclear will shock many who don't even like the word, but there are sound arguements behind it. Remember, the world itself has the characteristics of a living organism, humans are merely a parasite on it that will die in time. The world will right itself, regarless of our actions.

left by Lindsay on 01 June 2005

So this guy's argument is basically: in the end the sun will explode, we'll all die, so it doesn't matter if we make a mess?

It's much easier just to let your dog poo in garden, but after a while, your garden gets all full of shit, and it gets on your shoes.

In the end I think the freee market will sort out energy supply, fossil fuels get more expensive as they run out, there will come a point when it is cheaper to use renewable sources.

Slightly different, but in america hybrid cars are starting to sell well, they're just starting to become more attractive to punters, cause they're cheaper to run.

Just because we will all die doesn't mean we have to live with a shit environment. It's not beyond the ability of man to make renwable energy work, and if it's a bit more expensive to us punters then I'm happy to pay the price of not having shit all over my shoes.

What are the sound arguments behind nuclear do you think? Maybe you have a different criteria for deciding what is a good energy source?

left by microphonehead on 04 June 2005