"David Hill" wrote in message
...
Martin wrote " I can't wait for the hydrogen era to come in.
Looks like the Canadians are getting on top of it! ......."

It seems as if in all this discussion no one is thinking of Hydro
electricity.......We have many rivers that could be harnessed to
produce
power.

Between 1/2% and 1% ofm our present rate of consumption.

In Canada the government has its long term plan for renewable
energy. This
is taken from info on the Toronto Hydro site...

" EcoLogoTM Program
Toronto Hydro Energy Services' intention in developing and promoting
its
Green Power program is to follow the guidelines established by the
Government of Canada's EcoLogo program. Environment Canada developed
the
EcoLogo labelling program in the 1980s to certify
environmentally-safe
products. To date, the EcoLogo program has certified an array of
products
across the consumer spectrum including green energy.

The current guidelines for the government's EcoLogo program include:

Solar technologies (photovoltaics, solar water and air heating)

As Martin has pointed out, photovoltaic technology consumes more power
than it produces.


Water technologies (generation of 20 MW or less of run of the river
facilities)
Wind technologies (turbines; individual or small to medium wind
farms)
Recovery technologies (methane from sewage treatment plants or
landfills)

All these can provide only a negligible fraction of the current rate
of consumption of energy.

Biomass, such as wood waste or food waste
Other (hydrogen fuel cells) ...."

Fuel cells use fossil fuels or alcohol. The latter requires more
energy to distil than the energy which will be recovered from the
cells.

Biomass has been under consideration for 40 years and it is still
regarded as not being a viable cource of energy on a large scale.
Besides, how do you propose using the biomass without releasing CO2
into the atmpsphere? Leave the trees be. They are storage places for
CO2 produced by ourother activities.

To a good approximation any words like "eco" and "green" which occur
in a paper on energy usuallt means that that papewr may be left
unread.

There is at present no way of avoiding the construction of common or
garden (got it in!) fission stations as fast as possible, and the
problem gets more urgent every year that passes without action being
taken in that direction.

Franz
..