TITA: Harnessing The Power

This post goes against the mould a bit. It's not about me, my condition or anything like that. I've decided I may as well publish my thoughts on a few subjects while I have an audience. Similar blogs to this will have the title as TITA, an acronym for Things I Think About.

This one is about power, or more importantly, renewable energy.



Now don't go running off thinking I'm going to get all preachy. I'm certainly not. The beige brigade get their knickers in a twist thinking the world is going to end in a couple of years time because we're eating too much cod, or using too much Lynx Africa or other such nonsense.

Now, wind turbines. Some say (the some being those who suffer from nimbyism) these marvels of technology are a blight on the landscape, ugly looking things that will somehow directly affect your quality of life if there's one built within 100 miles of your home. All of this is nonsense of course, in my opinion.

I think they look quite neat. Such a simple design, yet brilliantly complex. They're a fairly simple and cheap source of renewable energy. Well, they would be if it wasn't for the high cost of public enquiries forced upon the planners by the local folk who think this modern windmill will somehow give their children cancer, or magically break apart and decapitate their children in true Final Destination style.

But let's say we should need to please the nimbyists. Personally I think we should build a wind turbine in their front gardens, as a sort of punishment for being so short-sighted. But let's say we do the less confrontational thing and bow down to their silly qualms.

Us British folk live on an island, with literally thousands of miles of coastlines, surrounded by some of the most active bodies of water outside of the major oceans of this planet. Why are we not harnessing the power of these oceans?

Stick the wind turbines underwater around the coast!

Now I know what you're thinking, wind turbines can't catch the wind under water. You're right, they can't. But the blades could certainly catch the powerful currents of the English Channel, or the North Sea. Nimbyists wouldn't be forced to watch them spin round and round on top of a hill 20 miles away.

You could put millions of them around our coast. In fact, there probably isn't enough steel in the world to fully harness the power created by the tides of the Thames Estuary alone, never mind the rest of it. Yes, it would cost money, but it'd be better to pay a few billions now and have a renewable source of energy than be buggered entirely once we've used all of the oil, coal and gas the world has to offer.

We'd quickly become one of the richest nations in the world too. Gone would be the oil rich Arab nations and in would come the sea rich nations like Britain, Holland and Bermuda. The electricity generated by these turbines would get to such levels that we'd have no choice but to sell it to inland nations.

Of course there would be some hurdles to get over. Shipping lanes would have to be more precise, to avoid the turbines and perhaps you'd have to surround each turbine with a net to stop wildlife being harmed by the blades.

The island of Britain has always been at the forefront of modern technology. So why can't we suggest this answer that will change the world forever?

Don't worry folks, I will continue posting about mental health awareness. I will post a few of these though, just to keep myself, and hopefully you, entertained.