We need to stop using electricity. Like now. The planet’s dying. Carbon is the killer. In case you missed that. And generating electricity burns coal. That’s how we do it. Newton’s law: energy cannot be created, only changed from one form to another. So we burn hydrocarbons and they provide electricity that we need to charge our phones. Oh, and our electric cars. And the telly. Maybe some lights.

In fact our electricity consumption has increased. Everywhere we used to have 2 sockets we now have a ‘4-gang’ thingy plugged in to provide more outlets. Because my whole life seems to be about putting things on charge. So action is needed. And toys are apparently the answer.

They have windmills, big ones, ok, fucking massive ones, which turn really slowly and produce electricity and now they’ve invented a new method. Using kites. Massive kites, in pairs, which move outwards and inwards in tandem, rolling a generator as they do it. They fly at about 100mph, and really high, so they’re not as unsightly as the windfarms. Though pilots probably won’t be too impressed.

They’re building 10 pairs of these kites, they’ll be 600 metres apart and flying at 300 metres. Each kite has 380 square metres of surface area. And that’s all fine, til the wind stops, or they get tangled or the lines break. Cos flying kites is dead easy, right?

These things speak of desperation. We need to think nuclear. Its the only way. A lump of coal burns for about 4 minutes, then its dead, having produced a bit of electricity and spewed its carbon upwards, so you need another lump. A lump of Uranium lasts for 4 billion years and reacts carbon-free. It really does. In fact in 4 billion years your lump has just halved its potency. Takes another 4 billion to halve it again. Ok, maybe a bit more expensive and touch more difficult to control, and if you lose control you’ve destroyed half the country for the next billion years, but it must be cheaper in the long run.

Toys are fine, but if you need power you need to harness nuclear power. Can’t understand why all these boffins can’t do that safely. They’re too busy working out which foods will kill us this week.

Happy Friday. Sunny and a long weekend ahead. Ahhhhhh…

A xxxx