The only neutral effect energy source that I can come up with is energy conservation. Wind and solar generation can be competitive for certain locations. There’s a project in my area looking at tidal flow energy generation. There’s hydro power for areas with the needed topography. Each of these have some negative sides. And do these have the potential to replace all the electricity generated by coal fired plants or just a substantial part of it? What is going to be the predominant future long term electric generation system for the world and what do we do until we get there? If it is ever fully developed can "clean coal" power generation be a stop gap source? Although it has nasty end products should the revival of nuclear energy be considered? I do not think there is one right answer but we have to start coming up with some. And we’re going to have to accept things that are less than perfection. Governments will allow the expansion of "dirty" power sources before they will let the power grid go dead. What are your thoughts? Tom

first up i think we humans needs to look at the type of homes designed and built for us, nowadays much more so than back in the 1900's they are un-ncessarily large macmansion affairs designed and indoctrinated to look and feel like what we need and want and that is far from the facts. the houses built are to suit the building industry and all its hanger oners, so we have these structures which are totally inefficient in the use of resources not only to build them but to run them thereafter.

renewables are and the way it looks, looking at the tech' over the past decades, are going to be too expensive for the masses, and as with all things indoctrinated no one wants to do the math on the pollution caused in the manufacture, transportation, obsolescence and disposal of these systems. if we are to move away from our reliance on fossil fuels etc.,. then these technologies sue a lot of componenet from that fossil base.

and due to the amount of power needed to transport power over large distances the renewables should be seen as something that is going to need to be decentralised, to get maximum available power for the use it is intended for.

but as you say everything has down sides we need to go for the systems with the least and more managable down sides. they have the technology to make coal fired stations ceaner burning, so why don't we use that for now until we can develop an energy source that all sections of the community can afford. i've heard a lot on geo-thermal but then there isn't a lot of interest seemingly in developing it.

and over here they are planting exceedingly ugly wind farms where should be planted forest bio-diversity to repair the climate damage and increase the chances of regular rainfall. adn the same can be said for ugly solar panel farms, which realy need full on sun to function (so even if all homes ahd solar fitted, solar doesn't work on cloudy days, wind would be the better option but then those propellor driven units could be very unsafe in a big storm, here again they are working with an old technology instead of developing turbine wind collectors).

just doesn't make current sense for us over here to be scrapping our 30 or so coal fired power stations in prefference for a more dangerous bi-product causing source, and then keep mining coal (which causes its fair share of pollution), so that another country can increase its coal fired stations from 300 to 600 and buy our coal to fire them, keeping in mind our contribution to the world pollutants problems is around 2%, what's there's?

len

all about being "green"

len

where abouts is this other forum you mentioned?

tia

len

Dee

len

Wave power devices extract energy directly from surface waves or from pressure fluctuations below the surface. Renewable energy analysts believe there is enough energy in the ocean waves to provide up to 2 terawatts of electricity. (A terawatt is equal to a trillion watts. Wave power can't be harnessed everywhere. Wave-power rich areas of the world include the western coasts of Scotland, northern Canada, southern Africa, Australia, and the northeastern and northwestern coasts of the United States. In the Pacific Northwest alone, it's feasible that wave energy could produce 40–70 kilowatts (kW) per meter (3.3 feet) of western coastline.

Offshore systems are situated in deep water, typically of more than 40 meters. Sophisticated mechanisms—like the Salter Duck—use the bobbing motion of the waves to power a pump that creates electricity. Other offshore devices use hoses connected to floats that ride the waves. The rise and fall of the float stretches and relaxes the hose, which pressurizes the water, which, in turn, rotates a turbine. Specially built seagoing vessels can also capture the energy of offshore waves. These floating platforms create electricity by funneling waves through internal turbines and then back into the sea.

Additionally, these turbines can split saltwater to produce hydrogen, which must become our next fuel source for cars and industry instead of petroleum. This plan has the potential to almost completely mitigate catastrophic climate change over time, although it is not wiothout some lesser environmental impacts.

Here's two good wave power examples: