Change to Green Power

2. Better still change to Green Power as well as decreasing your power consumption in the home.

• Green Power is sourced from renewable energy. These are wind, solar and biomass. Into the future there will be wave or tidal and geothermal. Exciting possibilities. It is important to note that renewables are now proven to be able to produce baseload electricity.
• This link provides an excellent comparison of the providers in Australia - Click here.
• This is another fantastic site that provides a green electricity comparative table: Green Power Price Watch.
• At this point I feel it is important to talk about the existing power supply and it's efficiency. Did you know we loose 2/3 of the electricity in generation and transport? Can you believe that- what a waste. The following link is to a YouTube video made by Greenpeace, England. The same situation applies here. The video discusses existing coal power plants- together with other renewable energy we can decentralize and increase efficiency to 95% Brilliant! Let's just follow Europe's lead- countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. Too easy! No need to reinvent the wheel. Click here.
• For an Australian perspective please watch ABC Four Corners- "Earth, Wind & Fire" The show talks about renewable energy sources and Australia's lack of investment resulting in these companies leaving for places like California, Germany and China. It is 47 minutes but well worth it.
  

Renewables include:

• Solar- At the moment we have solar hot water and solar electricity- two different technologies. For more info- hit this link for The Carbon Reduction Institute.
  
• Wind turbines
• Hydro-electricity, when there is enough water.
  
• Biomass
• Geothermal- still in development stage
• Wave or tidal
  More information coming.
  
  GAS- is a brilliant alternative to coal as it is heaps less carbon intensive (30-50% less) and together with renewables increasing, is a much better alternative for the environment. Let's all increase our outdoor bar-be cooking in summer, gas hot water and heating. The use of gas for industrial purposes is a heaps cleaner choice than coal.
  

Other vaguely possible power sources:

• Clean Coal or CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) – is still in developmental stages and will take up to 15-20 years or more to be working. Existing power plants can not do this, so new ones have to be built. The carbon is captured, liquefied and pumped under the surface of the earth. (Sounds like a science fiction movie starring Bruce Willis.) If this technology doesn't work some have wasted their time. We don't have time for that. Why not work on technology that is already up and working. Common sense I say. Note: the use of the words "Clean Coal" has been so miss-leading to the public over the last 6 months inferring it is a magic bullet, in fact it is far from it- coal will never be clean. We are currently using it and have done in the past because of it's availability and cost, but is time to move onto greener pastures.

• Nuclear has fierce public opposition because of cost, large amounts of water needed, threat of proliferation (used as weapons), terrorist attacks, possible Chernobyl disasters and not to mention the waste hangs around and is toxic for 100s of thousands of years. How could we be so arrogant to think we can manage that! Also important it will be public money, tax payers money that pays for the huge insurance bill! Back to clean, fresh renewables.
  

For all the updated facts for not supporting the nuclear industry- a great documentary film by David Bradbury's- "A Hard Rain". A must see if you think you may have been conned by the spinmeisters.

Dr Helen Caldicott is another tireless anti-nuclear campaigner- check out her site