Work we did in

1. Assessing the 4 options against the Criteria in Figure 10 – score 1 = very bad, 5 = very good in the little box
Option Environmental impacts Cost Security of supply Reliability Total
Score
Nuclear - Radioactive waste - Cost of power stations massive - Power stations have 30-40 years - Rare accidents can disrupt
power - Possible leaks of radioactive (and variable) of life supply
material - Decommissioning costs + Provide baseload (24/7) + Once they are working they are
- Radioactive contamination - Power in hands of few TNCs - Fear of terrorism reliable
from accidents + Cheaper than offshore wind, + Uranium can be reprocessed
- Problems with open case coal with CCS, Coal with FGD, + Reduced reliance on imports of
mining Gas with CCS oil and gas
+ No CO2 during operation
Shale gas - Possible water contamination + Price of energy has gone down - Unproven yet, we don’t know if + If it’s extractable (we’re just at
- Minor earth tremors in the USA it’s extractable the exploration stage) it should
- Greenhouse gas emissions, - In Europe it would have to pay + Potentially huge be plentiful for years
but lower than coal or oil carbon taxes raising the price of + On Western European soil (good
+ Small land take fuel for Germany, UK, France, etc)
- Not good for southern European
countries (Spain, Portugal etc)
-
Bioethanol - Would encourage more - Could cause food prices to rise - Reliant on harvest (2012 was - Reliant on harvest (but most
intensive farming and - The plant on Teesside had to bad. years will be fine!)
therefore damage to close due to market problems - If harvest was bad would have to
ecosystems (it wasn’t profitable) import (price would be higher
+ Carbon neutral - Farmers would have more
income
CSP - Minor damage to ecosystems - Expensive in the short term but - MENA countries have been in - Sunshine is reliable, technology
in MENA/seabed long lasting and cheap in the political turmoil since the Arab proven (use in Spain etc)
+ No CO2 during operation long run Spring -
+ Once it’s installed should be fine
+ Provides baseload