ALT-1 Why Commercial Renewable Energy may be a Long way off
The idea of energy sources which are both profitable for industry and renewable is a potent incentive for research and companies are pouring vast amounts of money into looking at ways in which this might be achieved.
Wind power is one such idea. However, given that it takes huge amounts of energy to produce each massive turbine and they need to be running at high efficiency levels for 5 years or more before they even begin to off-set the energy used to make them, they are proving to be not the Holy Grail they were once thought of. The idea of capturing the energy in the wind is an ancient one and windmills, sails and many other means have been tried but until an efficient way is found, truly renewable energy provided by wind turbines is a long way off. Also, the numbers of turbines required to power even a relatively small number of industries and homes means that the landscape and off shore sea areas designated as suitable sites for wind farms would need to be massive and this provokes environmental arguments.
Wave power seems a good idea and people have looked at capturing the power in waves for a long time. However, in real terms, the energy held in waves, unless they are whipped up by storms and these last for relatively short periods, is minimal. Wave power would provide negligible convertable energy which we could use and the size of the booms to capture what little energy is present would be vast, having an effect on sea life. Wave machines producing power use enormous intake fans which the waves turn and into these would be sucked fish and many other forms of marine life, thereby creating a lasting effect on the ecosystem. Many areas deemed suitable for wave energy machines are also nursery areas for food fish like cod and haddock so the industrial and environmental conflict is apparent from the start.
Many places which are pristine in terms of wildnerness, would have massive turbines linked to floating booms and these would create eyesores, which, environmentalists argue, would destroy many or our naturally beautiful areas. Studies inthe Orkney islands off the UK have shown they could prove suitable for wave power production but at what cost to the peaceful nature of these wild islands?
Commercial renewable energy is still along way off. However, small scale pilots are proving successful and solar panels, small wind turbines and water-powered wheels in riverside areas are proving to be successful in powering a limited number of homes and small industries and it could be that, while commerical renewable energy on a large scale is still something of a pipe dream, if more of us used small scale energy producing ideas in our homes and gardens, we could save a lot of power in the long term.
Time is of the essence and research is underway but, as yet, the idea of renewable commercial power remains wishful thinking.
