So John Robertson MP thinks that ". . . while there is a place for renewable technology within a balanced energy policy, it is not a core source of supply because of its intermittency" and "only coal, gas or nuclear can deliver a constant supply".
I presume he thinks that the tides are "intermittent". Well, that will be news to everyone who lives near the coast. The fact is that tidal stream turbines are capable of extracting some of the power brought to bear on this planet while emitting no atmospheric pollutants, nor leaving behind highly toxic wastes to be "swept under the carpet" for future generations to worry about.
Coal and gas stations may certainly be "constant" (unless the miners pull the plug, that is), but they are not clean. On the subject of polluting power sources, have a look at a photo of the Olympic Dam uranium mine, John. The fact is that tidal stream turbines can generate power fairly continually (because we have constant tides) and they generate more power per "swept area" than their wind counterparts simply because of the greater density of the working fluid.
Advocates of radioactive fuel always remind me of Basil Fawlty when anyone brings up the waste disposal problem. "Yes, well we'll worry about that when we come to it."
Barry Lees, 12 Denholm Street, Greenock.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article