Yes folks, its cheaper to heat with electricity!

[Steve Firth]

Only if one is the sort of person who thinks that the start to a construction project is laying the first stone.

[Roland Perry]

In message , at 21:15:16 on Sun, 27 Apr 2008, Steve Firth remarked:

No, the start of construction is digging up the trees that are in the field where you need to lay the first stone.

[magwitch]

So the 'poor' are more important than wiping out another species?

There's 6.5 billion of our own species, only an estimated few hundred gorillas.

[Steve Firth]

What makes you think that the gorillas will be "wiped out"?

[Clot]

[magwitch]

Building a pair of whacking great dams on the River Congo will involve roads, where roads are, people and loggers follow, never mind the ecological carnage when the flow of the Congo is disrupted or changed.

With increased exposure to humans, their viruses, their predilection for 'bush meat' and the loss of their habitat the great apes will be doomed.

[magwitch]

Here's a (long) link:

[Espen Koht]

Well, I know when you started digging this hole, but have no idea when you started planning it.

[Steve Firth]

Of course it will, we're all doomed, doomed, doomed I tell you. Now what makes you think all those things won't happen if the damn is not built.

[Steve Firth]

Yes, the New Scientist is pretty much of a joke these days.

[Andy Hall]

I was recently shocked. I subscribed to this about 20 years ago and it was reasonably sensible.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up a copy to take to my wife in hospital. On the shelf in the supermarket (I didn't have time to go to Smiths) it happened to be next to the childrens' comics.

After she had read through it (she's also a science graduate) she asked whether I could bring in the Beano next time.

Imagine her surprise when I told her that it was next to Dennis the Menace in the shop.

[geoff]

In message , Andy Hall writes

Even I have to admit that it's pretty crap nowadays (ISTR Magwitch making that point some time ago)

As material for the Klo Bibliothek, it's OK

[Steve Firth]

I see they still fail to teach anything of value at Fenland Polytechnical Institute.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, arbitrage works whenever you can buy at place A cheaper than the spot rate at place B. Neither has to be high, just different..

[Chris Shore]

The greens want them stopped because some birds will have to move, apparently.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Not 8% of teh UK's power.

At best 8% of the UK's current electricity generation, at odd times of the day.

So once again, like windmills, another source of electricity that barely dents the UK'S TOTAL power needs, will be bloody expensive, require loads of very expensive backup or storage, and will totally transform the appearance of thousands of square miles.

quite apart from destroying a unique environment for certain bits of wildlife.

[Andy Hall]

Understood, but the effect overall in terms of energy transfer and amount of money that can be made depends on volume as well.

[R.C. Payne]

My understanding is that the maximum load condition is when we have a winter anticyclone, which leads to the coldest temperatures, and unfortunately, very light winds. When it's windy and wet, that generally mean weather coming out of the Atlantic, which is relatively warm.

Robin

[magwitch]

If you'd looked closer at the reference (or bothered to read the article) you'd have seen"

Journal reference: Nature (DOI:10.1038/nature01566)

underneath the article.

[Jules]

Indeed - the companies involved will doubtless insure the kit up to the max and then reap the huge rewards when it all gets mysteriously nicked by metal thieves a week later... all whilst bleating about how sound the technology was and how it would have saved the world...