energy costs

[caminito]

We can't live without energy for industry , heating our homes and transport , so how we obtain and have control of this
resource is important .
Oil and Gas is dependent on Russia and the Middle East and we can see the problems of being in the hands of despots .
Nuclear energy gives us independance but as we know there is a lobby against nuclear power stations on the grounds of safety .
The Japanese problems at the moment show the dangers .
Well ,safe nuclear does exist, and China is leading the way with thorium .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/8393984/Safe-nuclear-does-exist-and-China-is-leading-the-way-with-thorium.html

I am pleased to read that the Regulator Ofgem has told energy firms they must offer simpler tariffs to help consumers compare prices.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12802591

Hopefully the ‘artificial’ petrol, will be introduced as planned !
Boffins at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford have invented an ‘artificial’ petrol, which costs just 90 pence per gallon and could run in existing cars.
Motorists could even be able to drive for 300 to 400 miles before needing to fill up.
The breakthrough comes as average UK fuel prices have hit a record high.
The new hydrogen-based fuel produces no greenhouse gases and could be available in as little as three years.
Professor Stephen Bennington, the project’s lead scientist, said: “In some senses, hydrogen is the perfect fuel. It has three times more energy than petrol per unit of weight, and when it burns, it produces nothing but water.

[avalonmpk2]

I've never understood why the electrolysis of water has never been developed as a commercial fuel if only for central heating systems and a as power power source for electricity generating stations - I was taught about this in science at school seventy years ago progress what progress, our students would sooner be 'celebs' or 'pop stars' not boffins or engineers.