Mechanical engineers call for geo-engineering
The UK cannot depend on renewables to deliver its future energy needs, according to members of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
Theyy want the Government to look at large scale geo-engineering measures like orbiting mirrors to reflect sunlight back into space and millions of artificial trees that could absorb carbon dioxide to allow us more time to develop a low carbon economy and improve the performance of buildings.
Seeding artificial clouds over the oceans, growing algae on the side of buildings and painting roofs white to reflect sunlight are other ideas the IMechE believes should be developed alongside efforts to create a renewable infrastructure and increase the amount of microgeneration.
"Current predictions are that we will be unable to service the current plans for offshore windfarms by 2013 because we won't have the construction vessels to do it and, by 2018, we'll run out of manufacturing capacity," said Tim Fox, head of environment and climate change at the IMechE.
A newly published IMechE study encourages continued efforts to cut energy demand in half by 2050, but said we would still need to build 16 new nuclear power plants between now and 2030, and then another four by 2050. Around 27,000 wind turbines would also have to be built by 2030 with a further 13,000 needed by 2050.
All of this would have to be done alongside dramatic increases in the amount of solar power, waste and biomass we use and the development of a smart electricity grid and advanced energy-storage technologies.
The IMechE estimated that the country would need to 'decarbonise' at the rate of 5% per annum, which is double the rate achieved during the 1990s in the "dash for gas", when we switched from coal-fired to gas-fired power stations. In subsequent years, the country has reduced carbon emissions by less than 2% per year leading the IMechE to deduce that it will not be possible to meet the Government's target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 without a radical change of approach.
The institution has also expressed grave doubts about the availability of enough engineers to carry out the scale of renewables work called for by the Government because of international competition and worldwide demand.