I heard what I thought was a bright idea the other day. The problem with
solar energy sources like wind and light is that they vary a lot and so
don't always produce when the energy is needed. PV leccy is produced
during the day but needed at night and so on, and many posters have
pointed out that we do not have means of storage at sensible cost. If
there were lots of electric cars with batteries that charged reasonably
quickly, they could act as a huge reservoir of electrical energy.

Lots of scenarios present themselves. As an example I might have a home
PV array and a car. During the day the car charges when I'm not using
it. During the night, I can use some of the energy to power my home or,
if there is a surge in national demand, a modest amount of electricity
is bought from each car connected to the system, and then sold back if
needed later. Another example. I'm making more PV elec during the day
than I need. The system buys it and sells it to cars charging at work
for the trip home. The idea thrives on intelligence and variation of
generation and use. I can't see that it's beyond our technology now.

Clearly we'll continue to need a base of steady generation but to me an
idea like this looks promising.

I agree with Tim about algae. The efficiencies they are already
achieving in trials, and the fact that food-growing land is not
required, makes this a very promising bio-fuel.

Peter Scott


OTOH a few new nuclear stations will be a much simpler more reliable
more ecologically sound bet....
--
Tony Sayer