Yes, they need some more new coal fired stations with good emission controls, and shut down the older less efficient stations, and they should run the combined cycle gas stations on gas supplied from fracking, maybe even build a few more, wind has proved useless and very expensive, tidal power requires large capital investment, unless the UK does something now, blackouts and shortages will occur in the future.
Yes. The simple fact is we need the damn electricity. In the UK there are actually concerns that we're going to start having rolling blackouts within the next 20 years because our current power stations cannot keep up with demand.
My question to opponents of fossil fuel power stations is "what are you going to replace it with?" Nuclear? Nuclear is carbon free but admittedly comes with its own set of problems. So they're against fossil fuels, and they're against nuclear. What's left? Renewables? They are at best a supplement. Even if you went renewable energy daft you'd be lucky to get 30% of current demand. Right now only fossil fuels and nuclear have the all round muscle you need to actually supply the grid.
Tens of thousands of homes in the UK, in the 21st century for goodness sake, are living in fuel poverty. They cannot heat their homes in winter. To bring them up to standards, then consumption must go up. Its a simple fact that carbon use i.e. energy consumption is associated with standard of living. We see this across time and across countries today. Countries with higher living standards need more juice to run.
I'm not saying be irresponsible, what I'm saying is that we should be increasing energy production because that increases standard of living. This trend needs to continue. Right now fossil fuels (and nuclear if you're willing to go down that road) are the only things capable of sustaining this growth. To say consumption needs to be reduced is fundamentally Malthusian.
It sure beats the heck out of the wood chip plan they have.
Coal has historically been a great commodity for energy. It is plentiful, contrary to popular opinion, and it is efficient.The UK has ruled out nuclear and has no substantial elevation for hydroelectric dams. Wind and solar are not ready to supply the massive quantities needed for the country. So that either leaves coal or perish.
No. Nuclear power plants are what should be built.
Michael
Yup!
The uk runs cars on coal ? gas is not a fossil fuel , it is made by the earth . This was proven in the 1950's
If you have the fuel to support them, then by all means....YES!
It's for a homework assignment and i need to have a balanced debate about whether more should be built. thanks!
