Sunday 19 September 2010

Why wind power cannot replace nuclear power

An almost undeniable fact about energy resources is that fossil fuels won't last forever. Whether or not you believe they affect the environment, alternative sources of power will have to be found and used on a mass scale, to enable us to use business electricity long after coal, gas or oil has run out.

As of yet, the next best alternative to fossil fuels is nuclear power. It doesn't produce Carbon Dioxide, it is more efficient as you can obtain huge amounts of energy from relatively tiny amounts of fuel, it is reliable and very little waste is made. It seems that as an alternative to fossil fuels, nuclear power will take some beating. There are of course other ways, such as tidal power, solar power and wind power, but these all have major flaws that must be ironed out before they rival nuclear power in efficiency, cost-effectiveness and reliability.

Wind power is often mentioned as being a reliable source of power, and there are many wind farms already up and running. Wind turbines are erected, so the wind will make the turbine spin, which (without delving into a physics lecture) produces electricity. Okay, this method may be cheap, as we don't pay for the wind. But there are a number of drawbacks.

http://www.helium.com/items/1954480-wind-power-disadvantages

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