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Demand for power is not constant. It may be higher during the day when industry is working at peak, and lower during the night, except when there is a break during a very popular TV program and a nation's kettles are switched on. It may be high in the winter, when people turn their heating on, and lower in the summer (except where air conditioning is common). It can be very inefficient to stop and start fossil fuel and nuclear power stations as demand varies. It tends to be the older, less efficient ones that are mothballed during the quiet periods, and this makes the cost of upgrading them to current emissions and safety standards disproportionately high. There aren't many ways of leaving them on and efficiently storing the surplus electricity they produce, though one example is Dinorwig Power Station in Wales. This is where alternative fuels can have a benefit disproportionate to the proportion of electricity they produce. For example, people whose solar panels produce more electricity than they use during the day or can store for the night can sell their excess power to their electricity company during the peak day period, and then buy electricity back at night when demand is lower. In summer, more power is likely to be sold on the sunniest days when demand for power for air conditioning will be at a peak.

Oil and coal are not available everywhere, giving those countries who have good supplies an economic advantage. Whilst renewable fuel sources are also not equally distributed, between them they give a far larger proportion of the world's population the chance to have their own clean power source. They also allow people for whom it is not economic to get onto a power grid to have their own source(s) of power, rather than having to buy in tankfuls of oil, sackfuls of coal, or canisters of gas, whose prices are all likely to rise considerably in the long run.

Whilst power grids are marvelous for enabling us to use fuel from a variety of sources as they are available and cheapest, and often to outsource the pollution on to others, there are also some disadvantages. Blackouts can propagate so that nearly everyone in an area (perhaps millions overall) is in the dark, and they can be vulnerable to terrorism. People with solar power can at least store enough power to give them light throughout the night, and often more, and they can use their electricity to cook and heat water during the day. This gives people greater independence and resilience. The downside is the necessity of banks of batteries.

If we continue to drag our heels in the development of alternative fuels, then we will reach a stage (if we have not already) where nuclear power is the only option left. Such will be the demand for power that objections to the construction and siting of nuclear power plants would be overruled. And at first, everything will seem fine, though if nuclear power becomes monopolistic (and there are efforts to prevent many countries from acquiring it for fear they may develop nuclear weapons), prices could then start to go through the roof. But sooner or later there would be accidents - the smaller leaks may only affect a few people, but sooner or later there would be another Chernobyl. With increasing numbers of power plants, and increasing world populations, the risk would increase - even if the plants were generally made safer. There's no such thing as an accident-free zone. The pile of radioactive waste would also grow.

The other sign of the coin is energy conservation. Like Senator Alexander, I applaud improved appliance efficiency standards. Improving the efficiency of our heating, cooling, buildings and manufacturing systems would save us money as well as energy, pollution and global warming in the long run.

Other Stories

There will be more stories tomorrow.

Do you think that your government is pursuing the right energy policy? Do you have a policy of your own?

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