Nuke power for NZ?

[Lou Girardin]

Ask anyone who's lived in Europe, our houses are like fridges in winter compared to their well insulated homes. Are we kidding ourselves that we live in a tropical climate or something?
Some proper design would save billions in power costs and stick it to the power co's at the same time.

[TwoSeven]

I would agree with both of the last posts. We have plenty of power and the wooden/slab concrete sheds people live in are rather drafty and cold (except in the summer).

I have noticed that the power industry has been seeding the public with a lot of mis-information of late - just like the tobbaco and beer industry tries to do. Problem is, these days he who lobbies hardest gets to keep the in-efficencies.

[Wolf]

Don't worry, CSL, we'd put it well away from Wellington...

..we'd put it in Orcland and then we wouldn't need to have Transpower's super mega fugly pylons across the Waikato, either.

For extra safety sheilding we could cut off the Transpower peoples' heads and mount them around the core - way denser than lead.

*evil grin*

[Wolf]

I think we need a change of focus...

Efficiency - not generation. The problem with efficiency is there is less money in it for the key players (generation and power distribution marketers) so what do they want to push it for?

If every house/factory had solar hot water heating, and all lights were efficient (not boring old incandescent) and all heat was kept in the house with insulation etc etc... we'd save a bloody fortune.

I personally think NZ has pleanty of power being generated now... we just pour a lot of it down the damned toilet (metaphorically speaking of course...)

Rant over...

I agree, it is more in the power companies's interests for people to waste power than save it so they will always push for more generation (and pylons) rather than for more efficient management.

[Coldkiwi]

Ask anyone who's lived in Europe, our houses are like fridges in winter compared to their well insulated homes. Are we kidding ourselves that we live in a tropical climate or something?
Some proper design would save billions in power costs and stick it to the power co's at the same time.

This is true, but as a designer for the construction industry, I can tell you any changes to do with upping the thermal insulation of a building envelope and sealing drafts off willl need to come from a very high level of govt and be part of the building code and council requirements. There's too many cheap skate developers out there looking to build the nastiest residential buildings they can get away with and too many councils that don't know any better for 'good will' to make any head way into real efficiency.

Of course, you DO need to consider the additional energy and cost that goes into making buildings better insulated in the first place -not inconsequential I would imagine but I'll leave it to a QS to give you a pay back period on that!

[ManDownUnder]

So what happens with the Nuc. wast??

Skyryder

Something I've always wondered about... what if you got the waste and launched it into the sun? Nuke powered rocket (I assume you could ahve such a thing...) and put the thing up far enough so the sun's gravity did the rest...

The onlt problem I can see with that is the ol' problem - what if it goes bang on the launchpad...?

[ManDownUnder]

This is true, but as a designer for the construction industry, I can tell you any changes to do with upping the thermal insulation of a building envelope and sealing drafts off willl need to come from a very high level of govt and be part of the building code and council requirements. There's too many cheap skate developers out there looking to build the nastiest residential buildings they can get away with and too many councils that don't know any better for 'good will' to make any head way into real efficiency.

Of course, you DO need to consider the additional energy and cost that goes into making buildings better insulated in the first place -not inconsequential I would imagine but I'll leave it to a QS to give you a pay back period on that!

On a related note... do you guys all know the Govt has a subsidy scheme on at the mo for Solar Hot Water heating? They pay the interest on the purchase within defined criteria etc... but first steps are actually being taken...

I'll find more details and post them here if I rememeber...
MDU

[sAsLEX]

On a related note... do you guys all know the Govt has a subsidy scheme on at the mo for Solar Hot Water heating? They pay the interest on the purchase within defined criteria etc... but first steps are actually being taken...

I'll find more details and post them here if I rememeber...
MDU

there is also schemes to assist those that install rainwater and grey water tanks in their homes to ease burden on the mains water supply, which needs power to run(the mains that is), so they are starting to think sustainable, cause if they dont we are fu**ed

[inlinefour]

there is also schemes to assist those that install rainwater and grey water tanks in their homes to ease burden on the mains water supply, which needs power to run(the mains that is), so they are starting to think sustainable, cause if they dont we are fu**ed

But dont some local councils make it illegal to collect rain water?

[Jantar]

Nuke power is clean and safe when its 'in operation' but not when it isnt. There is a problem with getting rid of the waste. Something they dont tell you about the nuke operating cost, is that getting rid of waste cost 10 times more than running the plant.

The other thing is that nuke plants only run for a small amount of time, about 25 years and after that you can never again (for the rest of time as far as we are concerned) use the ground it was built on.

The reason why is that the UK is now getting more and more of its power from renewable energy sources such as wind and sea (especially sea). NZ is just waking up to this, but still has a protected industry, so it will be a good 10 years before we re-invent the lightbulb so to speak (we are way behind the world in electrical generation capability).

If you want to upset a labour politician, ask them how much money the government spends developing wage generation capability - the answer is none, and next to none (in real terms) for wind generation - since most of it is privately funded.

I wouldnt even bother with asking why people are still prevented from generating their own power (you can, but you cannot also be connected into the grid), yet in the states, you can get credits for doing so.

Wave power is a nice thought, but it has not yet been developed on an economical scale anywhere in the world. The sea water is just too corrosive, and the variations in tide and wave are just too harsh. That doesn't mean that these issues can't be overcome, just that its not yet cost effective to do so.

In New Zealand we have not been prevented from generating our own power since November 1992. It is quite legal to do so, and it has been legal to then sell that power back to the grid since February 1997. You can do it, and many already are.

[ManDownUnder]

In New Zealand we have not been prevented from generating our own power since November 1992. It is quite legal to do so, and it has been legal to then sell that power back to the grid since February 1997. You can do it, and many already are.

Yes but there is the small issue of your local supplier buying it back off you at the same price (more or less) as they sell it to you... maybe you make a small amount of money...(unless you are lucky enough to have a direct connection to Transpower's network)

Prior to giving them the power back you need
1) Generation
2) Inverter of suitable quality and
3) A separate meter, rented by the month of course.

Yup - no need to go making it easy for Joe public to do their bit in establishing some distributed generation despite the fact it'd solve a number of problems and be very economically viable (think Kyoto protocol, carbon credits for non polluting power sources..., think no more generating plant required by central Govt, no more power lines up and down the country)...

and that's just the generation side - now we could talk energy efficiency... aaaa maybe I should leave that rant for later...

[sAsLEX]

But dont some local councils make it illegal to collect rain water?

i highly doubt that piece of info somehow! How would they monitor it, and why would they make it illegal?

[ManDownUnder]

i highly doubt that piece of info somehow! How would they monitor it, and why would they make it illegal?

Yup - monitoring is harder... good 'ol "dob in a neighbour" seems to be the best way...

As for why? Any extra water collected = extra water going down the drains, which means in the bigger centres they need up upgrade drains. It also means they lose any money charged on Waste Water (charges are in Auckland for sure - and some other parts).