Nuclear energy is dangerous
Opinion polls made in the U.S. showed that 72% of people are afraid of nuclear energy.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/debunking-myths-about-nuclear-fuel-coal-wind-solar-3
A lot of people are afraid of nuclear energy, especially because we all remember the 1986 tragedy which happened in Chernobyl. However, today's nuclear power plants are resistant to human mistakes (such as Chernobyl situation) but also to a possible terrorist attack. We may think that coal plants are safer, but it’s not true. Let’s look at the miners, many of them every year have the heart and lung disease and many of them during the extraction of black gold die. The most important fact is that coal plants emit more radiation than nuclear plants. And also a nuclear power significantly reduces our dependence on fossil fuels which will end in a few decades.
Number of nuclear reactors in the world:
· USA – 104
· France – 58
· Japan – 54
· Russia – 32
· South Korea – 21
· United Kingdom – 19
· India – 19
· Canada – 18
· Germany – 17
· Ukraine – 15
http://www.izolacje.com.pl/artykul/id991,stan-rozwoju-energetyki-jadrowej-na-swiecie
Wind turbines are not reliable
Construction of a wind turbine and a generator costs a lot, the same goes for a device adjusting the frequency of current supplied to our homes. Another defect is the noise that wind turbines make, which is dangerous also to animals that have inhabited the area for many years. They are also dangerous to birds’ hikes as they are where they put now very powerful propellers.
However, wind farms are certainly a good option because the wind is as yet no ending source from which we can obtain electricity.
Wind Turbine Explosion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nSB1SdVHqQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLQyUia7-IA&feature=fvst
Solar energy is uneconomic
Solar cells are expensive. The standard installation of solar panels on the 10 square meters costs about $ 100 (In USA) . Solar battery in Poland costs 700PLN for 0.5 square meters. The owner of these solar panels will see the refund of purchases not faster than in a few years’. Additional cost is the exploitation of the panels, which is also costly. However, looking optimistically, solar panels are one of the most environmentally-friendly types of energy sourcing and may even be profitable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meZOOEn29Fs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvLljPClS-0&feature=related
The most interesting is the way to obtain electricity from sources such as air and sun in our country because according to the provisions of the energy we need first to sell power at a lower price to power plants and to buy it later from them. Then if we need energy, we have to buy back it from power industry for a higher price. Legally we cannot use the obtained energy directly in our home.
Q: Are you using this type of sources of energy in your home / flat?
Q: Are you in favor of building a nuclear power plant in our country?
Q: Can you name any other sources of renewable energy?
Actually I am currently using normal electricity lines provided by Warsaw’s electric companies. But I’m seriously thinking about installing a hamster-plant, but I’m afraid I would become a bankrupt about those food…
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion nuclear power plant is a future of Polish electricity. If we didn’t build any, we would create terribly big debts we would lose our chance. Nowadays we have to import electric power from other countries.
There are hundreds of nuclear power plants over the whole world. Despite of many rumors about the danger they are quite safe and worth to build.
Any others? As I mentioned earlier: hamsters-plant (hundreds of hamsters are continuously running in metal circled cages (like an artificial runway). Also I can point at Hydropower Plant. There are Buses in Sweden running on vine instead of petrol – that’s also a renewable source of power.
Unfortunately this type of energy is not that popular as in other countries and the sources of it are hard to find. That is why I do not have an easy access to such sources and I do not use it much. However I do realize that I should be using more eco friendly energy.
ReplyDeleteI think that there is no danger and that power plant should be built in our country. People say that it can blow when they see what happened in Japan but we do not expect any tsunami waves in Poland or earthquakes. Even if anything like this would happen such plants are secured in case anything like that happened. From economical point of view Poland needs a power plant as soon as possible.
Most common renewable energy sources I know are wind, hydropower, solar energy, biomass, biofuel and geothermal energy.
People protest against nuclear power plants because they have not a slightest idea about them. I heard once that a NPP is completely safe when located below ground but I'm not sure about it. Those who hate the idea often recall Chernobyl. Probably they don't know that the 1986 disaster happened because the stupid engineers were playing with the reactor's cooling system. It overheated and exploded, but it wouldn't have happened if they had been more careful. Such things usually don't happen if you apply all the safety rules. I suggest we build a nuclear power plant, it's less harmful to the environement than our omnipresent coal plants.
ReplyDeleteIt's too expensive for the most people to build their own energy source, and the rules don't favour it (damned red tape). If I could choose it would be either solar or geotermal energy.
Great and needed presentation! I hope it will help to convince people who are still against nuclear plants in Poland. I'm absolutely pro - there are so many advantages of building power plants in our country: economical, environmental and political.
ReplyDeleteAs other guys, I live in typical flat in Warsaw so I don't have much influence on source of energy that I use. I dream about buying a house and I consider so called "economic house" which is also very ecological because it saves energy.
Now, the other sources of renewable energy... I think about anything that we could burn, like wood (which we can plant so it's renewable) and... excrements ;-) People in many countries use cows' droppings to make fire. Also, I heard about energy from crematory used for heating in Sweden. Terrible!
I am using traditional sources of energy that are available to everyone for a 'normal' price. However, I am not in favour of coal energy since it is harmful to the environment and to people working with it. Alternative sources of energy are expensive, however, we all know that it is the combination of the demand and supply that dictates the prices on the market. If people do anything to change the situation on the energy supply market, the prices for solar batteries or other devices needed to supply households with different forms of energy will be much cheaper.
ReplyDeleteI am not in favour of using nuclear power or building a plant here in Poland. You wrote in your presentation that nowadays risk is avoided and accidents such as Chernobyl are less possible. And what about the latest accident in Japan? Everyday, we can hear about its detrimental effect on people, their lives, their environment and the economy of their country. I hope nuclear plants won't be built in Poland so we will never suffer like the people of Japan.
"(...)There are Buses in Sweden running on vine instead of petrol – that’s also a renewable source of power. (...)"
ReplyDeleteRenewable? Since when? Wait, I will consult it with wikipedia... Oh, crap you're right. BUT for my defense the definition is still evolving.
"(...)People say that it can blow when they see what happened in Japan but we do not expect any tsunami waves in Poland or earthquakes. (...)"
You're so wrong! :D Polish nuclear scientists (I hope I didn't mistaken the naming) said that once in 10 000 years there is tsunami in Poland. But as we all know we cannot rely too much on your specialists. :)
It's all about probability. People are more afraid to travel by the plane than by the car. They don't care that from probability point of view is safer to travel by the plane. And the same is with nuclear power plants. They don't care that were ~10 serious accidents during the 30+ years period. I think that accident ratio is much higher in coal mining. We hear all the time about accidents in mining.
Of course failure of nuclear plant is much more critical than anything else.
>Q: Are you using this type of sources of energy in >your home / flat?
My parents use solar panels to heat water. :)
>Q: Are you in favor of building a nuclear power >plant in our country?
I don't have opinion. I'm in favor but not near where I live. ;)
>Q: Can you name any other sources of renewable >energy?
Unfortunately no.
Yes, I think we should have built nuclear power plant long time ago and have at least 2 by now. There should be some country-wide action (at tv, radio etc. - intervies with speciallists etc.) showing people that NPP are needed and they are not so bad as everyone think. A lot of things moved forward since Czarnobyl (technique especially) and now they are much more secure. And as someone said this disaster in Czarnobyl was caused by people stupidity and irresponsibility.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why France or Germany discourage us to build NPP while they have a lot of them - they don't want us to be independent probably.
I suspect that I'm using normal/traditional sources of energy. A long time ago Polish government planned to open nuclear power plants near Warsaw - but they never open its;/ .
ReplyDeleteHmm maybe geothermal energy or this one that uses warm water? Unfortunately I'm not able to remind any other;/
It was quite interesting.. I think everything can be dangereuos if used wrong ;) Do I use such source of power? Fortunately or unfortunately I don't (it is really hard to say which source is better. For sure nuclear power is „clean energy” and more traditional plants emites more polution. But which one is safer? I don’t know. You said that wind turbines are noisy.Few days ago I heard on tv that turbines are really silent. Maybe it wasn’t true because that words were said by some mayor who wants to build them in his town ;) ).
ReplyDeleteI don’t have anything against bulding nuclear power plant.. and I don’t know whether you heard what Germany said about Polish plans? „don’t do that! It’s dangerous blabla”. As we know (not only from your map) Germany has 17 nuclear plants! Funny. Isn’t it? It doesn’t matter whether nuclear plant blows up in Poland or in Germany (still we are neighbours on a map! So we are close to each other ;) )
Any other sources of renewable energy? Nothing but Tomek’s hamsters does not come into my head! Defenitely it’s great idea.
Because I'm living in Warsaw in a flat I cannot use any of eco friendly types of energy (nuclear, solar, wind). I think that using solar energy is definately uneconomic especially for single users. The same is with wind energy, because wind turbines are extremely expensive. Nuclear energy is impossible to gain without specialist machines and devices.
ReplyDeleteNuclear plant is dangerous. Even if plant is prepared perfectly - like in Japan, after earthquake leak appeared. In this example, we can see, that we cannot predict everything and there always is risk of explosion or leak. Therefore, in my opinion, nuclear plant shouldn't be build in Poland.
Other sources of renewable energy can be geothermal energy, water energy or biomass.
At home I use energy from RWE. As a student I do not have any other choice because of the finances. I stand for building atomic power plant in our country. Such kind of energy is rather safe because of the sophisticated protection systems. Czarnobyl as we all now was not as dangerous as it was and the radian the Europe took was irrelevant. In Japan even quit big earthquake and tsunami did not destroy such construction. It is press that makes sensations where there are none.
ReplyDeleteFor me renewable energy so far is too inefficient for mass use, it count change in future but now I'd rely on coal and nuclear power plants, they are most efficient.
ReplyDeleteNone of us has enough knowledge to judge weather NPP are secure or not, but historical it seems that they are no in bad condition. In my opinion Poland is very secure place to build it. Our country is not endangered by tsunamis, hurricanes or strong earthquakes, so there is little probability that NPP will be destroyed. Unless human can't get effectively energy from, as called, alternative sources of energy, he ought to explore NPPs. But of course taking into consideration as many factors as possible to build it in secure place and where it is exacly needed. In my opinion situation in Japan was only the matter of time, because there are regular earthquaqes. human can build skyscrapers which construction is able to reduce the effects of earthquaqes, but only if it is not stronger than 7 or 8 is Richter magnitude scale. Ifthere are lot of them and they are strong enough, they are unstoppable.
ReplyDeleteI've never used this type of power sources, but for sure in the future to invest my money in it.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure you invest in a heat pump which use the heat collected from the ground, as they are characterized by a large labor economics.
Unfortunately, are still very expensive in Poland.
The heat pump is a device forcing the flow of heat from an area of lower temperature to an area of higher temperature. This process goes against the natural direction of heat flow, and there came from the outside due to mechanical energy (the heat pump compressor) or heat (in the pump absorption).
Certainly will also invest in solar panels.
But it's all in the future:)
Renewable energy is very expensive to deployemt for mass use.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should "save" energy for example bulding passive houses.
The passive house is the leading standard in energy efficient construction.
The energy requirement for heating in typical passive house is equal to 10 to 25 euros per month.
http://www.passivehouse.us/passiveHouse/PassiveHouseInfo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_house
I am absolutely about building a nuclear factory in our country. if we talk about ecological maners this kind of power station is much more environment friendly than coal-fired powers. This smoke it extract from chimneys contains, as I remember,90% water vapor.
ReplyDeletePeople are afraind aobut it because of what happened in Chernobyl. But nowadays NPP is much more safe that in the past (this is what some expert said in TVN24, when where was a problem with nuclear station in Japan). We can just look after our western boundary. They have NPP and nobody is going to protest, and nobody gets hurt.
I hope we will have NPP in not a long time.
Q.1: I live in regular Warsaw's flat. And unfortunately I don't have any influence what kind of sources of energy I use. But if I had a chance to make this kind of decision I would choose solar or wind energy (nuclear is not available:(
ReplyDeleteQ.2: I am in favor of building a nuclear power plant in our country. In almost all developed countries this kind of power is commonly used. It seems to be a little bit dangerous but modern technologies are for sure safety enough and we can not always compare nuclear plans with Chernobyl.
Q.3: My predecessors named some of them and I don't have nothing to add besides those that was mentioned.
1) I do not have such opportunities, living in the city, but I would be happy to use energy that is produced in more environmentally sound manner.
ReplyDeleteMy father is a big fan of renewable energy and he mounted a few solar panels on the roof. Photovoltaic modules (generating electricity) are not very efficient, so he only use vacuum collectors to heat water.
He is also running a company related to that, so feel free to visit his website: domnatura.pl
2) Nuclear power would probably allow us to reduce the costs associated with electricity, but on the other hand it comes with certain risk, so I'd rather not be for such a solution.
3) There are for example so called "Heat Pumps" which "moves heat from one location (the 'source') at a lower temperature to another location (the 'sink' or 'heat sink') at a higher temperature using mechanical work or a high-temperature heat source." (via Wikipedia)
I rent a house, therefore I do not have the possibility of installing alternative source of energy. Here where I live is the normal electricity as in most Warsaw's homes. My dad wants to install solar electricity in his house, but from what I know the costs are high and it's not easy. Do I know of alternative energy? Some time ago I saw a program on Discovery about taking power directly from the people. Here is an article about this: http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/14/will-we-gather-clean-energy-from-streets-and-sidewalks-in-the-future-powerleap-stomps-yes/ the idea is interesting :)
ReplyDelete