As well as a popular indie band, British Sea Power is rapidly becoming more accepted as a valid alternative to nuclear and fossil fuel energy. Whereas the nuclear proponents in the UK civil service have previously neglected the sector (as London Mayor Ken Livingstone explains to Radiohead’s Thom Yorke in this week’s Observer Magazine), a number of companies in the UK have made great advances in harnessing the power of the oceans despite the lack of enthusiasm at government level.
The water around the British Isles makes it a key resource and as the Independent explains, could account for huge percentages of the electricity demand of the country. With a feasibility study into the Severn Barrage underway and products like SeaGen and Pelamis coming into use, it seems like the tide might be turning in more ways than one. Nuclear energy will undoubtedly be a factor in the UK’s future energy use but with such a huge resource sloshing around our coastlines it would to take advantage of this clean and renewable power source.
“it seems like the tide might be turning in more ways than one.”
Oh Tomas, you’re so punny! 😛
I dont think there is much to worry. By 2100 there will be a ring of photovoltaics around the earth, somewhere 500 kilometers high. Temperatures may be so low below it as to create another temperate region by the equator. Multiple skyhooks may reach through this mesh of solar collators beyond and up into the sky, tens of thousands of kilometers high. We will be able to generate so much energy by 2100 we have a lot more freedom to engineer.