Page 6 - Chemical Technology

4 Chemical Technology • January 2013
special report
Energy, energy everywhere
just not in my backyard
by Gavin Chait
The protestors in Swanage, along Britain’s Jurassic
Coast, were out in force. Some 300 people gath-
ered to demonstrate against the environmental and
economic damage caused by a new energy plant being
built just offshore.
Charlie Sanderson, spokesperson for the
group, expressed serious concerns for the
native wildlife: “Dolphins and other marine
mammals would die during the drilling and
pounding of the seabed – which would take
years – as their delicate sonar would be dam-
aged by the noise.”
An oil company drilling a new platform? No.
The Navitus Bay Wind Park is a wind energy
plant that would see 218 turbines built 16
kilometres off the coast. The company has
already agreed to push the development
boundary further away and reduce the
overall number of turbines.
Neither is wind power alone in attracting the ire of
environmental protestors.
The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in Cali-
fornia’s Mojave Desert will be the largest solar thermal
power system in the world when complete. Google was
one of its initial investors as it sought to reduce the
carbon footprint of its massive server farms. It too has at-
tracted the outrage of environmentalists concerned that
it will endanger the tone of any area filled with ancient
Native American burial sites, as well as disrupting sensi-
tive wildlife.
The 14 square kilometre mirror array plant will gener-
ate about 377 MW of energy, sufficient to power 140 000
American homes, while reducing carbon production by
about 580 000 tonnes a year.
The Navitus wind park is even larger. The plant, origi-
nally aimed at producing 1,2 GW of electricity will now
produce 1,1 GW; this is sufficient to power 775 000 UK
households and would reduce carbon dioxide production