None now: <How many people live in cities that have a large power plant in it?> But some do already use waste heat from power stations.
When thinking of the future, it pays to not be bound by what already exists. The whole point of inventing new things is to do things differently.
Already people are doing things like buying heat pumps, which get electricity from power stations, which drives refrigeration systems which suck heat out of surrounding cold air and uses the energy from the motor and the heat from outside to heat a house.
It's not much of a stretch to move the power station inside the house too, especially if the house is a big apartment building.
Come to think of it, in Antwerp we had a furnace room INSIDE the house, in the basement and the heat heated the house. We didn't have it generating electricity though. It burned diesel fuel.
Not surprisingly, the air was soot laden, because many people had furnaces and most cars sold were diesel, without the pollution control systems now available. London air was soot laden too, because people had furnaces in their houses too, in the form of open fires in the living room and swarms of diesel vehicles roamed London keeping the buildings black. The vehicles which didn't put out soot put out lead.
There is no hush-hush in electricity supply and networks. It's boring old electrical engineering going back 100 years.
Actually, consumers have lots of choices: <Not to worry, the consumer pays for the lot, and isn't going anywhere. Thats the main thing. > We have gas and use that to heat water because it's cheaper than electricity. We can insulate houses, wear insulating clothing. We can turn lights off and buy energy saving bulbs. Electricity reticulation isn't a monopoly really. There is competition.
Carting electricity 1000 km from the south island to Auckland involves significant line losses. Same from Taupo to Auckland. A nuclear reactor in Auckland would involve low line losses. Also, the warm water from cooling would create a great swimming zone and tropical fish could move in.
Another big advantage of a nuclear reactor in Auckland is that when [not if] Taupo erupts again, destroying the Waikato river and ALL the electricity supplies, Auckland would remain in business. At present there are a couple of little power stations in Auckland and a few emergency generators at hospitals, motels etc.
Mqurice |
