We are now Gods

[Highlander]

Might need a VERY BIG lead weight to plug that hole...

We need to hire a BIG Dutch boy to stick his thumb in...

[Denis]

The pro Nuke lobby tell us we are mad not to be building Nuke plants because its such a clean cheap source of power.
We have a 1045mw wind farm network.
Hot rocks that have (as of last week) been determined 4 times hotter than expected.
5000kms of Great Southern ocean coastline (most of which is unpopulated) should wave power be required.
Huge uptake in solar panels on residential housing over the last 15 years (excess unused power getts fed back into the grid) and lots of sunshine to go with that.
And as a fossil backup we have huge reserves of Natural Gas which is one of the cleanest fossil fuels.

With all that space unsettled Down Under it would be crazy not to go for the windfarm approach.
There is a huge windfarm in Illinois that must have 200 turbines standing that you can see for miles but in other parts of the country they are a big issue because people claim that if they put them in the bays or offshore, it will harm sea life. Uh, jackasses, can't you see that oil in the water is worse?

[Dave W]

Wind may be practical for Australia. All other issues aside, not enough wind power could be generated here to make a dent in US needs. We should still pursue it though.

[Pilgrim]

The issue is assuring a steady supply of power at all times, 24x365.  Wind is notoriously unreliable and irregular in terms of the energy available.  A combination of sources may meet that need, but then you need to add storage and a way to manage both inputs and outputs from the grid, including some very sophisticated switches and computer-driven management systems to balance the inputs and outputs.  All this is new stuff, much of which is still in development.  The thing about fossil fuel and nuke power is that it's steady and manageable at the head end.

[Freuds_Cat]

Yeah I hear ya Al, that part of the discusion has been had here. There is no doubt that a diversity of sources is a must. I guess my point is that we have such a wide selection of renewable energy sources available to us plus gas as a fossil based backup (which the current main power station in Adelaide has been running on for years) that I find it hard to see why whe should go down the Nuke path. Remembering of course that we would be starting from absolute scratch to develop a nuclear industry.

[Highlander]

The difficulty for everyone to accept is that in a (relatively speaking) short period of time there will come a point when fosil fuels will become scarce, Harry Harrison's "Make Room, Make Room" will be an awful premise for the masses, and then it will be too late...

There are still too many without the barest of essentials for life while the rest of us sit fat and happy...

The time for change is N... O... W...

In our lifetime...

We are burning up our kids future, for what...? Keeping fat-cats in a life they have got more than used too...

(not sorry, hadn't got the chance to shred the soap-box yet...)

[Dave W]

The difficulty for everyone to accept is that in a (relatively speaking) short period of time there will come a point when fosil fuels will become scarce, Harry Harrison's "Make Room, Make Room" will be an awful premise for the masses, and then it will be too late...

There are still too many without the barest of essentials for life while the rest of us sit fat and happy...

The time for change is N... O... W...

In our lifetime...

We are burning up our kids future, for what...? Keeping fat-cats in a life they have got more than used too...

(not sorry, hadn't got the chance to shred the soap-box yet...)

I remember many predictions in the early 70s that the world would run out of oil by 1980. When doomsday predictions turn out to be false, then many people no longer listen to them. It will happen eventually. In the meantime we drill deeper and more dangerously.

[Barklessdog]

I remember many predictions in the early 70s that the world would run out of oil by 1980. When doomsday predictions turn out to be false, then many people no longer listen to them. It will happen eventually. In the meantime we drill deeper and more dangerously.

That & we are going metric.

[uwe]

John, cut it out!!!

[Freuds_Cat]

 

[Dave W]

We're more likely to run out of oil before we go metric.

[dadagoboi]

We're more likely to run out of oil before we go metric.

Today's cars are completely metric and at least 90% of motorcyles and basses.  What else is there that matters?  Oh yeah...

Seriously almost no manufacturing is done using the English system.

[Highlander]

(Don't hog all the popcorn, Bret, this could take on a life of it's own... )

[Dave W]

Today's cars are completely metric and at least 90% of motorcyles and basses.  What else is there that matters?  Oh yeah...

Seriously almost no manufacturing is done using the English system.

True, industry has been that way for years. And the federal government often requires it in contracts. But the man on the street won't use it unless he has to. I don't see that changing anytime soon, since two generations have grown up with it and it still hasn't made headway.

[dadagoboi]

True, industry has been that way for years. And the federal government often requires it in contracts. But the man on the street won't use it unless he has to. I don't see that changing anytime soon, since two generations have grown up with it and it still hasn't made headway.

It certainly has in engineering and design.  Your local mechanic uses metric tools.  He knows 15mm is bigger than 14.  Is 5/8 larger than 13/32?  Have to think about that one.  Metric has taken over liquid measurement and some solids.

But in general I agree with you, the metric system will only be used by techies in the US.