The aging Council elite have been focused on an increasingly unreliable nuclear plant inevitably moving to close-down. Let's get real about alternative enegy.
Energy from the tidal currents in the Skerries is there for the taking, with a whole new industry in Marine Current Turbines just round the corner, with jobs in engineering, manufacture, installation and export.
Vote out the past and go for the future!
Mar 20, 2008 Rating
Renewable Energy Vision for Anglesey by: Marianne Jones
I completely agree that Ynys Mon Council suffers from a lack of vision in relationship to job creation. All its energies seem swallowed up by a fixation on another nuclear plant which 80%(local polls) of its people do not want.
Do not want! Why?
First and foremost, nobody in the world knows what to do with the radioactive waste which this industry produces and which will remain dangerous for thousands of years.
Sea levels are set to rise (melting ice, glaciers) and our nuclear power station is on the coast. There is a geological fault in the Straits which can cause earthquakes.
There are raised levels of childhood leukemia around nuclear power plants (scientifically verified).
We don't want a terrorist target sitting on our island. In the event of a nuclear accident (they still happen), we have only 2 bridges to escape across (impossible gridlock).
Furthermore, it is a lie that nuclear provides 'baseload electricity' - our plant has been shut down on several occasions - once for 18 months.
Blessed with a well educated population and huge amounts of tidal, wind and wave power, there is a big opportunity here for the invention, building of parts, and setting up of plants - jobs - using renewable energy.
Let's hope we have the vision to do so.
Mar 20, 2008 Rating
Nuclear New Build and Tidal Power the Answer by: Neil Reed
Encouraging and supporting the alternative energy sector on Anglesey as suggested by Dr Clowes and Mr Wolff is great.
The island can attract graduates with the engineering skills and the projected increase in apprenticeships will also meet the inevitable skills gap that will develop.
However, none of this means that we don't need new nuclear as part of the UK energy mix. In fact from an employment and skills standpoint, having a new generation of nuclear power stations will be great news because it will resuscitate the natural sciences and engineering courses in our universities.
The demand will be there for graduates for the next 30 years or more and so universities can plan ahead with confidence and maybe some of the companies bidding for nuclear new build contracts can offer scholarships.
So, the bottom line is that Anglesey can pull away from having just 53% of the average UK GVA by proceeding with new nuclear build and other renewables such as tidal energy, as piloted by MCT Limited in Strangford Lough, Northern Ireland and now off Skerries, Anglesey.
Wind would not be the answer because it does not address the crucial baseload electricity supply like nuclear and to a lesser extent tidal power.
Mar 20, 2008 Rating
Huge worldwide demand for wind turbines by: Gerry Wolff
Yes, in addition to the many opportunities in IT, renewable energy is exploding around the world.
Wind power is growing so fast that it has created a worldwide shortage of wind turbines. With a little imagination and leadership, this would be a great opportunity for employment on Anglesey. It is the kind of relatively clean light engineering that would go well on Anglesey.
