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Originally Posted by Soddball
The problem that I've got is that there's no way I can possibly cover the world's information about actual climate change. And there's so many differing interpretations about it that I'd be wasting my time. Reams and reams of websites simply reiterating complex details about climate change are no use.
What I hope to do is point out the futility of the current approach to dealing with climate change. There are serious issues surrounding the way that we treat the world in which we live, and I think that climate change is obfuscating them.
I want to specifically address the pollution generated by some sections of the economy that are ignored, to indicate that the government's motivation is not environmental but tax-raising. I also want to look at the reliability and efficacy of microgeneration and ask why the government is failing to drive these. I also plan to lead into overpopulation.
That's why I want to know if anyone has links to good sites on the specific issues in my first post. Thanks if you've got anything.
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The problem, as you rightly point out, is that specific sites are generally not too good at giving an overview and it needs a lot of detailed work to get to factual conclusions.
Anyway, the only point I am somewhat qualified to comment on is the efficacy of sustainable sources.
So far, it is p1ssing in the wind. No pun intended.
Recently the green light has been given for the largest wind farm in the world. It will be mostly in the Thames Estuary.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6188133.stm
I posted elsewhere:
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It's an ambitious plan and green so thumbs up to that. But again, scale comes into this.
To put it in context, the total output from all 441 units is about 75% of just one of the alternators at Drax. It's said to be on target to be the largest wind farm in the world. Yet it will be capable of supplying about 1% of UK requirements - on average. And that assumes actual output is a bit closer to predictions than that one at Reading that you can see from the M4.
Coincidentally, Westinghouse has recently announced the award of a contract to supply four nuclear reactors to China. Each will produce twice the output of the wind farm projects in Kent/Essex. Construction costs for Westinghouse are estimated at $1200/kW. For the Kent/Essex wind farms it is $7600/kW.
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So, 1% of UK requirements from the the largest in the WORLD.
Incidentally, the 1% figure I calculated is the same as Greenpeace put on their website.