This story about the reduction in fuel subsidies in Indonesia (they take a third of the government budget) shows how short term governments can be about such issues.
There are two big issues with Nuclear Energy. One is the issue of handling waste. The other is a global shortage of Uranium 235
You can forget fusion and the so-called hydrogen economy.
The Nuclear Energy Agency produce a "red book". The Red Book is something they charge for, but the link gives a summary.
In this instance it refers to locations where uranium is already being mined.
This article in The Independent is a bit of an odd one. It has Exxon claiming 3,000,000,000,000 barrells of oil still to be recovered. Even the USGS only claim that the total global endowment is 3tn bbl and they accept it could be as low as under 2tn bbl.
The problem is, however, that without going back to the source of the quotes it is difficult to be clear as to what they are saying.
On Gas there is better news for UK consumers notwithstanding that this winter could see shortages - the question there is how much electricity generation can be taken out of the loop before impacting on electricity supplies.
In 2007 a new Norwegian gas field comes on line (~20m m3 d-1) and in 2008 the new Liquid Natural Gas terminal at Milton Haven (~33m m3 d-1) come on line.
I don't have a sufficiently original source of information to check how much of the Norwegian field will be available for the UK - remembering Ramco's experience it may not be as big as expected. The Welsh plant, of course, will be available for the UK - but has to come from somewhere.
The probabilities are, therefore, that we may encounter gas shortages in 2005 and 2006, but then be OK until 2010. The cost, of course, is another issue.
The point about this is that it gives time during which to improve energy efficiency.
There are two big issues with Nuclear Energy. One is the issue of handling waste. The other is a global shortage of Uranium 235
You can forget fusion and the so-called hydrogen economy.
The Nuclear Energy Agency produce a "red book". The Red Book is something they charge for, but the link gives a summary.
In this instance it refers to locations where uranium is already being mined.
This article in The Independent is a bit of an odd one. It has Exxon claiming 3,000,000,000,000 barrells of oil still to be recovered. Even the USGS only claim that the total global endowment is 3tn bbl and they accept it could be as low as under 2tn bbl.
The problem is, however, that without going back to the source of the quotes it is difficult to be clear as to what they are saying.
On Gas there is better news for UK consumers notwithstanding that this winter could see shortages - the question there is how much electricity generation can be taken out of the loop before impacting on electricity supplies.
In 2007 a new Norwegian gas field comes on line (~20m m3 d-1) and in 2008 the new Liquid Natural Gas terminal at Milton Haven (~33m m3 d-1) come on line.
I don't have a sufficiently original source of information to check how much of the Norwegian field will be available for the UK - remembering Ramco's experience it may not be as big as expected. The Welsh plant, of course, will be available for the UK - but has to come from somewhere.
The probabilities are, therefore, that we may encounter gas shortages in 2005 and 2006, but then be OK until 2010. The cost, of course, is another issue.
The point about this is that it gives time during which to improve energy efficiency.
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