Power Generation

The more I hear about renewable power sources the more clearly I understand that these technologies are only part of the answer to the problems of global warming and fossil fuel exhaustion. It's not that the technologies don't work (they clearly do) or that they are uneconomic (they’re fast approaching economic parity, a trend that will only accelerate as investment grows) or even that we can't find somewhere to site them (although there are bound to be limits on the numbers of wind turbines we can build).

The problem is simply that they, or rather the weather patterns they exploit, are not reliable. Wind turbines can be becalmed, solar generators can be hampered by cloud, fog or the turning of the earth, and the result is that predictable peaks of demand probably cannot reliably be met by solely by these technologies. They aren’t going to be enough, so what do we do to bridge the gap?

Ultimately, when the coal, gas and oil run out (or when the CO2 emissions from their burning just become unsustainable), we should have plenty of options if we continue to pursue scientific investigation and the application of new technology. I have undoubtedly missed something obvious, but I think the solution is likely to include some combination of the following:

• Large numbers of wind and solar power generators as well as tidal power turbines,
• Large-scale electricity storage systems to time-shift generating capacity to coincide with demand,
• Imported electricity from places like north Africa, where solar energy is abundant and local demand is negligible,
• Changes to our lifestyles to use less energy, focussing on efficient, low-carbon, sustainable behaviours,
• Innovative new power sources, like Bill Gates’ Traveling Wave Reactor, or, if we’re very patient (or lucky), fusion power generators.
• Traditional fission power stations, along the lines of the new experimental units currently being built in Europe. 

The problems of carbon-free power generation are many, varied and non-trivial but they’re also amenable to the effects of time, ingenuity and investment. We could tomorrow launch a plan to replace fossil fuels with a combination of wind, tidal and nuclear power, for example. It would be unpopular, probably, but it could be done.

At the same time we need to be investing in distribution infrastructure. A smart grid should allow us to smooth the peaks of demand to some extent, for example by switching off refrigerators or air conditioning units for the fifteen minutes after Eastenders when everyone rushes off to boil kettles. This also requires considerable investment by large numbers of people but, again, it’s probably doable.

It seems likely, in an otherwise uncertain future, that our population will continue to grow and that even if our per capita usage shrinks, our overall requirement for energy will increase. The above suggestions may help us cope with this situation but the underlying requirement is continued investment in education, science and technology. Without that, and the benefits such investment brings, the future looks very grim indeed.