The Real Cost of Electricity
We take electricity for granted. We flick a switch and the light comes on, we press a button and the dishwasher begins its wash cycle. We drop bread into the toaster and it begins to prepare our breakfast. We do it every day and we never stop to think where the electricity that powers those lights and appliances comes from.
Electricity is part of our daily life that we take for granted. But it doesn't come out of thin air - electricity is the produced by power stations that can employ any one of a number of different methods.
Here in Australia much of our power comes from the burning of coal and the same is true in other countries too. Oil can also be used to produce electricity as can water, the sun and the wind. Unfortunately most countries depend on coal and oil and as those resources become more finite and more expensive we begin to look for alternatives.
Not every country has access to sufficient levels of sunlight to make solar energy a reasonable alternative and besides, generating the amounts of electricity that the western world needs to survive requires more generating power than the current level of solar technology can provide.
And it's the same with wind generated electricity. Wind farms are beginning to appear but they are a long way for reaching the generating level that we need.
So it should come as no surprise that more and more countries are looking to nuclear power to supply the electricity that we need every day. But is that a wise alternative?
There are many who say that it is a wise alternative and that it is perfectly safe but to those people I say just four words - Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
If you don't think that a major accident could happen at one of the West's nuclear power plants then remember Three Mile Island that happened in 1979 and seven years later Chernobyl spewed its deadly radiation cloud into the atmosphere.
Both were accidents caused by people who were either poorly trained or desperately trying to cut corners to save costs. The legacy of those accidents will haunt us for many years to come and the reminder of Chernobyl - a site still not stabilized 20 years after the event - will stay with the world forever.
If you think nuclear energy is safe to use then visit the site Chernobyl Revisited and take some time to read the text and look at the photos taken during a journey through the dead zone.
Who wants to live in a world where there are dead zones?
And if Chernobyl Revisited is too graphic for you then visit Chernobyl: Ghost of the Soviet Union - it's not quite so stark and threatening.
And once you have seen what simple accidents could do - accidents that came through cost cutting and poorly trained staff - you decide whether you want public companies (those very companies who cut costs to save money and improve their bottom line) to be allowed to build a nuclear reactor in your country.
The Real Cost of Electricity
We take electricity for granted. We flick a switch and the light comes on, we press a button and the dishwasher begins its wash cycle. We drop bread into the toaster and it begins to prepare our breakfast. We do it every day and we never stop to think where the electricity that powers those lights and appliances comes from.
Electricity is part of our daily life that we take for granted. But it doesn't come out of thin air - electricity is the produced by power stations that can employ any one of a number of different methods.
Here in Australia much of our power comes from the burning of coal and the same is true in other countries too. Oil can also be used to produce electricity as can water, the sun and the wind. Unfortunately most countries depend on coal and oil and as those resources become more finite and more expensive we begin to look for alternatives.
Not every country has access to sufficient levels of sunlight to make solar energy a reasonable alternative and besides, generating the amounts of electricity that the western world needs to survive requires more generating power than the current level of solar technology can provide.
And it's the same with wind generated electricity. Wind farms are beginning to appear but they are a long way for reaching the generating level that we need.
So it should come as no surprise that more and more countries are looking to nuclear power to supply the electricity that we need every day. But is that a wise alternative?
There are many who say that it is a wise alternative and that it is perfectly safe but to those people I say just four words - Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
If you don't think that a major accident could happen at one of the West's nuclear power plants then remember Three Mile Island that happened in 1979 and seven years later Chernobyl spewed its deadly radiation cloud into the atmosphere.
Both were accidents caused by people who were either poorly trained or desperately trying to cut corners to save costs. The legacy of those accidents will haunt us for many years to come and the reminder of Chernobyl - a site still not stabilized 20 years after the event - will stay with the world forever.
If you think nuclear energy is safe to use then visit the site Chernobyl Revisited and take some time to read the text and look at the photos taken during a journey through the dead zone.
Who wants to live in a world where there are dead zones?
And if Chernobyl Revisited is too graphic for you then visit Chernobyl: Ghost of the Soviet Union - it's not quite so stark and threatening.
And once you have seen what simple accidents could do - accidents that came through cost cutting and poorly trained staff - you decide whether you want public companies (those very companies who cut costs to save money and improve their bottom line) to be allowed to build a nuclear reactor in your country.