Castor, Radioactivity, Green Energy, Kraftwerk

[Martin Naef]

Hi Joost

On 07.11.2010 3:22, Joost Schuttelaar wrote:
> For base energy load, we need nuclear. Just to replace oil and coal.

Add water to that - at least where it's available, such as in 
Switzerland. I could also see technology exploiting the tides as a 
source for base energy.

> Furthermore, we need to use smart technology to greatly reduce energy
> usage. To get the R&D-machine going, we need to change some economic

Actually, a lot of the necessary technology is already there. In 
industrial production, a LOT of energy is wasted with inefficient motor 
drives (or rather: the lack of any drives): Those motors are either on 
or off, the output power is regulated using brakes. Using semi-conductor 
based drives can often reduce power consumption by 30% or more. 
Considering that something like a paper mill might have several 50MW 
motors, it's obvious that optimizations there will return a lot more 
than even the largest cities switching to "energy saving" lightbulbs...

> I am not a big believer in changing behavior of
> consumers/producers... to preach to consumers to consume less and
> 'use energy efficient lightbulbs' will not get us there. Basically we
> need to fix things on the supply side using technology.

I only agree partly here. Technology is good, but not just on the supply 
side. One area where we really have to reconsider our way if life is 
mobility. We're using way too much energy there.

Martin