UK to "get serious" About Renewable Energy

Bob Dobbs writes "Tomorrow the UK government will announce (observer.co.uk) it's going to "get serious" about renewable energy; in the bleakest look at global warming so far Tony Blair will warn that extreme weather will wreak £150 billion worth of damage across Europe within a decade and the current situation is "unsustainable". On the bright side, it's mentioned that sustainable energy sources are less susceptible to terrorist attack."

Comments

Hamsters!

[KanSer]

I'm telling you... it would work.

Re:Hamsters!

[jpetts]

I'm telling you... it would work.

But the metamphetamine you need to power them comes from non-renewable sources...

Re:Hamsters!

[halftrack]

I don't think you've really thought this thouroughly through.

Hamsters need food, let say 10 kg a year per hamster and then we assume each hamster manages to generate 10W and that we need three shifts. That's 3 * 10 / 10 == 3 kg of salad per watt, now to get a terrawatt you'd need 3 * 1,000,000,000 kg of salad which is a lot. Not to mention that you'll need support hamsters to bread new hamsters for when the ones in the wheels drop dead. That alone would easily double, or maybe even triple the amount of salad needed for each watt. You might be able to justify some of the salad usage by using the droppings as fertilizer, but still ... I think you would - mildly put - dent the worlds food usage statistics.

Now legistlation that would require every comb to be connected to your local electrical plant, that could work.

Re:Hamsters!

[DanAnderson26]

Yum, breaded hampsters...

Shit...

[Anonymous Coward]

Looks like were getting hand-cranked energy. But to keep the gears lubed, wont we have to rely on foreign oil?!

Unsustainable situation

[slavemowgli]

The current situation is "unsustainable"? Tony, you're shattering my view of the world! I always thought oil supplies etc. would last forever...

Re:Unsustainable situation

[de la mettrie]

There's not a whole bunch of places to put the waste ... Europe's a small place.

But money is global, no? There are many nations that have basically nothing useful to offer to the world economy except empty space and geological stability. Of course, making sure that the local Saddam equivalent doesn't simply dump the stuff on whatever ethnic group he considers unwanted, or that he doesn't pack it in dirty bombs for a return-to-sender is another matter...

Re:Unsustainable situation

[queenb**ch]

We only have a certain number of choices to produce engergy.

1. Hydroelectic - the PETA freaks won't let you do that because some damn thing or other won't be able to swim up stream.
2. Fossil Fuel - expensive and pollutes. The acid rain will kill all of us anway
3. Wind - not reliable and not available most places. This is also EXTREMELY noisy - can we say "noise pollution"?.
4. Solar - Hmmm - wonder how well that's going to work in the nice rainy , foggy UK?
5. Nukes - makes anyone sane nervous. Karen Silkwood ring any bells?
6. Geothermal - anyone want to see the NEXT ice age?
7. Garbage - Incenrators burn your garbage. Renewable and fairly clean. Also does away with landfills

The fact of the matter is that we don't have an unlimited source of energy but we have an unlimited source of people. Instead of looking for new ways to get energy, turn the problem around. Look for new ways of limiting the people to a sustainable level.

My solution - put birth control in the water. If you don't pass the IQ test, you don't get the antidote.

QueenB

Call Ripley's...

[Anonymous Coward]

Blair actually disagrees with Dubya on something.

Next up, he's going to be accused of supporting Al Qaeda's scheme to cripple American industry with this 'global warming' nonsense.

Blow Up The Sun

[Flamesplash]

On the bright side, it's mentioned that sustainable energy sources are less susceptible to terrorist attack.

Yeah let's see them terrorists blow up the sun. The jokes on them though even if they do, they'll just kill themselves too. HA!

Oh, kamikazes. yeah :/

Re:Blow Up The Sun

[Anonvmous Coward]

"Yeah let's see them terrorists blow up the sun. The jokes on them though even if they do, they'll just kill themselves too. HA!"

Not if they go at night.

From the Wire

[dscowboy]

2:09 PM, Feb 23, 2003
Shortly after receiving a telephone call from US President Bush, Tony Blair announced that he was wrong about alternative energy, that it is actually part of an "Axis of Evilnessity". Blair also said he recently read in some college essays on the internet that alternative energy would help fund terrorism. It was also revealed that the UK will be joining a "league of allies" in the US-led "War on Liberals". "I believe, and I think the people of the UK stand behind me on this, that we should do whatever Bush says, if it helps kill terrorists."

I'm a conservative!

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, I'm a Republican
I got a small schling
I like to bomb niggahs
and make a lot o' bling

I got a bunch o' friends
in high up places
They helps me get dem
government graces.

You think I'm smart
I just know who's who
I couldn't run a fruit stand
without the red white & blue

I'll drop some crap
about Jesus the Christ
You'll buy it all
and vote for me twice

'Fact, Jesus is comin'!
Real soon, now!
So we gotta prop up Israel
That ol' sacred cow

Don't need no history
Don't need no schoolin'
I got my ideology
To keep me a shootin'

Liberals! Faggots!
Commies and queers!
Socialist hippies
Full o' pussy tears

Propaganda's m'friend
But I calls it "fact"
Even though I don't read
'Cept for Chick tracts

Facts? No! Don't need em here!
We're conservatives! We work on FEAR!
Don't like what we say?
Well FUCK YOU, bud!
We'll shove it down yer throat
and tell ya it's good!

Re:�150 billion

[1nv4d3r]

Watch for this, watch for how often things are expressed in monetary terms, as though that was all that mattered.

I would watch for it, for say, $20/month. I estimate this vigilence is worth at least $23/month, so the earth will make a tidy profit.

Deal?

Re:�150 billion

[Hatter]

When we speak of damage to the environment, the future of the human race itself is at stake...

Which is why we should have sex now, baby.

Re:renewable energy is a nationalist's dream

[Anonymous Coward]

Now we just have depend upon those players of Black and White... "Need more sun..."

April Fuel

[Ian Jefferies]

Back in the days when the UK energy market was nationalized, one provider took out a full page advert describing how they were going to solve the energy problem with solar power. The Earth's axis of rotation would be moved so that Britain was in the tropics, thus making solar power efficient. The ad went on to explain the effects on some other countries of the world, and how this was an entirely desirable and justifiable state of affairs: it was our turn to have some nice warm weather for a change.

Considering the published date, it's no surprise that the final line of the ad was "April Fuel!"

IIRC they were slapped on the wrist for wasting 50k of taxpayers money.

Ian.

The obvious solution for England is...

[The_Dougster]

Rain Power! Since every day in England is cold and rainy, they need to install huge funnels above the country which will collect all of that rain and then use it to drive massive hydroelectric turbines.

Problem solved. That will be $100 please.

Re:the CAFE standard is a better solution

[Travoltus]

Why can't the poor move from cities with inadequate private transportation, and away from those distant rural areas?

Poor people can be crowded into large inner city areas and those who can't afford to move, well, let 'em eat cake!

Sincerely,
Jonathan Swift