I have been surprised by the strength of opposition to wind farms and the number of people who are in favor of nuclear power so i thought i might start a silly poll and see people's preferences in a made up world where both cost the same:
To state my own opinion at this point is probably necessary;
I am not especially in favour of either nuclear or going green at cost, although perhaps fukushima has demonstrated to me that nuclear is not safe even in a developed country. For me residual disaster risk will always be there, but not necessarily unpalatable.
There will always be a downside to whichever energy mix we choose:
I think the argument often comes down to whether you like to concentrate the costs on a small proportion of the population (nuclear) or spread it evenly across the population as a whole (wind and solar).
.................
As Energy minister for Morgan Island (a 100 x 100 mile island with a population of 6.6m) you have been charged with the task of making the big energy decision for the next 40 years.
You are aware that MG island has cut off its fossil fuel supply to you meaning you have to act fast.
You must either go nuclear or choose a mix of wind and solar.
Energy storage can be ignored:
Everyone drives around in electric Morgans so you can assume that the batteries will be used to even out the peaks and troughs in domestic energy demand vs. supply whatever option you choose.
Both options have the same cost.
The population is uniformly spread across the country.
If you go nuclear you can put the plant and waste processing material on the southern-most tip.
If there is a nuclear disaster the lowest 25% of the island will be uninhabitable and everyone there will die. The chances of a meltdown are 0.5%. (3 major disasters across some 600 plants since WW2)
Frustrations and political fallout will inevitably be held by the southern population the most, but isn't it whats best for the majority that matters?
If you go for wind/solar model you will evenly spread the solar and wind installations across the country so that everyone has a wind farm and solar farm within 3 miles of their house. This will upset everyone evenly because many people think they are ugly. You will also get electricity rationing and blackouts 5 times per year for a day when there is no wind or sun for many days running.
So which do you go for?
Last edited by charlestkirby; 01/03/15 07:18 PM.
