Microgeneration: the real energy revolution?
June 1st, 2008 by Jim JustU.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pushing for a “new generation” of nuclear reactors, including new plants in addition to the 23 aging plants that need to be replaced. This is despite a new report concluding that nuclear power isn’t economically feasible without huge government subsidies.
More cold water has now been thrown on Britain’s nuclear power plans by a new government-backed report concluding that, with changed policies, one third of British homes (about a million) could be retrofitted with solar panels and other “microgeneration” renewable energy equipment within 12 years. This would produce enough power to replace five large nuclear power stations, and before the first of the new generation of reactors could come on stream.
Such “microgeneration” would save the same amount of emissions of carbon dioxide as taking all Britain’s trucks and buses off the road.
The new report suggests that Britain adopt the same approach as has been successful in Germany, which pays householders for feeding the electricity they produce from microgeneration into the national grid. At least 15 other European countries have also adopted such programs.