Heating?

[Anonymous]

Oh well guess for the time being I will send young Ned out to the west wood to gather more wood,
herself is fixin a barth ifront of the fire then after its the last of sundays pheasant and a tatty with stock, then apple pie for after. Soon I'll haf to light the lamp.

 

[Anonymous]

>how will we be heating our houses in the coming decades?

I fear we might have slight misunderstanding of the magnitude of the problems.

> when the oil and gas is nearly all gone and not a decade ago!

I recall being first told that this would happen about 30 years ago.

 

[Anonymous]

The wind farms around here, Biff, are going to deter tourism - which is vital to the local economy really. And it's not just farmers - it's Plenmeller Common, which we have just had re-landscaped after open cast... and the wildlife and the walkers are coming back.

I've taken a very keen interest in the arguments, and I'm not at all convinced. I believe there may well have been alternatives, if money had been put into R and D. However, as with Pathfinders, money is being made...

I think it is an appropriate place really to discuss this - can't see why not, Nigel? It's about our homes and our historic landscapes!

Lets not forget, either, the way these things are to be anchored into the ground.

 

[Anonymous]

Give me wind farms any day, I certainly dont want a coal fired station chuffing out fumes in my back yard!

Its the pollution caused by that kind of thing (sulphates and nitrates as well as CO2) that leads to acid rain which breaks down the stone and lime wash/mortar on our historic buildings and has left many beyond repair.

A windmill can always be removed....

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, and we have run out. We now import it. What happens when our neighbours run out - or are willing to pay more to keep it for themselves.

 

[Anonymous]

As you know, Evelyn, I'm not suggesting that turbines be balnced on Hadrian's Wall but down here on the marsh I'd much rather see wind farms adding some interest to flatscape than have rising sea-level forcing me up into the hills. Global warming is a bigger threat to historic buildings than all of Twojags' dreams.

 

[Anonymous]

There was a good article in the Guardian on the potential sources of power on Tuesday - worth looking up.

Surely none of these things will work in isolation? Its going to be all of them together - including coal, gas, oil, tall oil (bet you dont know what that is!), bio fuels, geothermal, etc.!

I grew up in the value of York and we could see several power stations from the roof - all coal fired. lovely big clouds coming out of the top...

If we want the product surely we should be willing to participate in the process - I always wondered about those central London Boroughs who declared themselves Nuclear Free Zones - you didn't see them turning off the power 10% of the time, did you...

(Amusing anecdote - Greenwich was one of these self declared Nuclear Free Zones, content perhaps in the knowledge that there wasnt one for a hundred miles. Turns out the Navy had built a small nuclear reactor in the basement of the Royal Naval College, and called it Jason

 

[Anonymous]

Green Building Press

 

[Anonymous]

What do you know of the as yet undiscovered archaeology and stability of the land the generators are to go on?
Each needs a road for construction and access purposes each needs a rather large piece of Concrete to hold it in place and as housing for the mechanical gubbins, most look as though made of Concrete too. (Concrete isn't a environmentally friendly substance as we all know)
They can be seen from 40 + miles away depending on the landscape and are visually very intrusive. You remember how audio tape used to escape and get entwined in trees, the flicker as the wind caught it?The wind farms I've seen have just that effect but on a much larger scale and visible from many miles away.
(IMHO) More money should go to the Nodding Duck technique which would protect environmentally sensitive coasts and stop a lot of eastern England vanishing into the waves whilst producing energy at the same time.
I know, lets put a row of wind turbines down the centre of the River Thames from as far inland as there's room for one and out to the sea. I suspect that would make the enthusiasm for them wane.
Soap box packed away now.

 

[Anonymous]

Thnk you Hazel It's about what I think too!

 

[Anonymous]

The trouble with the turbines in the Thames is they would get in the way of the tankers bringing oil up the Thames and taking the waste out to be dumped....

 

[Anonymous]

This is one of those environmentally friendly devices during construction. The proposed wind farm near me will require 12km of access road across soft peat moorland


http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hills/cc/gallery/aerial.jpg

 

[Anonymous]

It's the use of 'farm' which is wonderful - so emotive. Why not 'factory'?

 

[Anonymous]

"It's the use of 'farm' which is wonderful - so emotive. Why not 'factory'? "

It's not a 'factory' because nothing is manufactured. The energy of the wind is gathered in or harvested, making the word 'farm' quite appropriate.

The twenty turbines that are being built near me do not require new roadbuilding or any associated buildings - all the gubbins is housed within the towers. Dale Vince is a really good bloke. Lots more info here:


Ecotricity at Conisholme

 

[Anonymous]

It's no use trying to convince me Biff - I hate em. I think there may have been better ways if we had invested in R and D. I think farm is emotive and smacks of nicer things than is the reality.

I do think that we haven't scratched the surface yet of trying to generate power in other ways.

 

[Anonymous]

>>nothing is manufactured

 

[Anonymous]

dont think id want to be the maintenance man for that transmission line <IMG SRC="http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/discussing/smileys/smile.gif" BORDER=0 ALT="">