ELECTRIC POWER

For generating Base Load Power (that’s power that does not stop just because the wind does not blow or the sun doesn’t shine) we have several options:

 

1. Coal – has been working well for decades and they even have exhaust filters on the stacks that make a byproduct used to make bricks . . . except that everyone is supposed to say it is dirty and produces CO2 which is EVIL!!!!! You can guess my opinion of that idea.

 

2. Hydro – works well but needs a river to dam and that alone can change the local conditions. Here in the dry continent of OZ we don’t have much chance of putting more dams in as there aren’t any rivers worth damming now.

 

3. Nuclear Fission – suddenly our opposition leader is pushing this. WTF? Never mind the cost of building the plants you also have hidden costs of mining, refining and disposing of the radioactive waste after use. Better find a big hole. Then of course there is the small matter of Plutonium. Pretty much all of the fission reactors in the world produce plutonium which can be used to make nuclear weapons. Why the hell do we want to increase the potential for nukes anywhere, let alone here?

 

4. Nuclear Fusion – This is the uncatchable piece of the sun in a bottle. I say Uncatchable because so far despite truly astronomical amounts of money going into multiple projects we still don’t have a single fusion reactor that generates more power than it consumes.

Take a look at the news from companies working on this and they always say something like “ten years away”. I have been waiting since the seventies for this. 

I think it is all based on fundamentally flawed physics ideas and it will never work the way they are trying.

5. Geothermal – This has always been a quiet but promising idea in my opinion: what you do is drill down a ways just like they do in the oil industry (proven technology) and you will find that underground 2-4 Km down is HOT. Heat we can use. Then you create an array of pipes underground that you then pump water into one end and hey presto, very hot water comes out the other end. This then used to generate electricity in well know ways. There is now a Canadian based company called EAVOR that are building these plants in Europe after their test site in Canada proved that it all works as advertised. I have no connection or financial interest in this company, my only question is “why has it taken so long to get to operational?

No dangerous expensive materials, no waste water, no gaseous fumes at all and all of the tech is pretty much off the shelf. Why is this not getting more airtime?

 

The underground portion of an Eavor system (credit: Eavor)