also, one of the studies done by tnb shows that solar (as in photovoltaic) is not that viable for malaysia despite year round summer, is due to our significantly high cloud cover and rainy seasons. while a dry and hot place like sahara can get high output, expect malaysia's output to be significantly less.

Hmmm... that's interesting. Do you have a link to those studies?

nope, not really, as i dont think tnb publishes any of its findings. its more of hearsay from industry insider

Don't really need to study. Just go and check out where solar farms are situated. All of them deserts like nevada etc.

nowaday nuclear energy is an another option for malaysia

i don't think malaysia has those professional workforce to handle nuclear technology

I think that's why people are alarmed at the idea, not that nuclear is bad. The Europeans have had nuclear for decades with no major incidents. We on the other hand can't even maintain the toilets and elevators in public buildings. The immigration computers were kaput when I went to renew my passport early this year. And they want to maintain a nuclear station?

After scouring the other threads regarding energy, I find it shocking that absolutely no one has mentioned that plutonium and uranium are non-renewable themselves.

This post has been edited by VMSmith: May 25 2010, 06:11 AM

well, Im pretty sure thats simply because the amount of energy that can be produced from a specific mass of plutonium/uranium is large enough that the amount readily available is enough to fuel the energy requirements for the near future.

I believe the general consensus is that the use of fission technology is only required until fusion technology is able to replace it.

That is a dangerous assumption.

http://www.theoildrum.com/node/5060

Unless we can ramp up global uranium production, we'll see uranium shortages around 2013.


This is just as dangerous. We could easily "run out" of all conventional and non-conventional energy sources, and fusion still wouldn't have made any progress.

How about the wind turbine energy? I think we have plenty, sea, land and hill around. Which enough area to setup a wind turbine farm to generate power.

Our wind characteristics have to meet a certain minimum before turbines become viable and I don't know if TNB has done the studies. Its also a policy issue. Do we even have a policy on green energy in Malaysia which include concessions in importing expensive turbines.

Wind turbines have the same problem as solar. High start-up costs, needs backup power station when there is no wind since there is no cheap and efficient way to store power, EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) values still lower than oil.

in short,it's very hard to realize these technologies in Malaysia as we don't have the workforce to handle them

1) I went through the linked source and could not find anything to back the statement on shortages occurring from 2013. The only occurrence of note would be the end of the US contract for russian bomb material which would lead to a shortage in uranium supply TO THE US. The study in itself seems to focus more on the availability of a secure fuel supply to the US rather than actual availability of Uranium globally.

Do correct me if I'm wrong.

2) As far as I know, there is already a fusion reactor being built in Russia as well as a prototype model of a more cost friendly design in MIT. Of course, the actual viability of both these models is something that we can only "wait and see" to confirm.

Another thing to note, seeing as someone already pointed out Malaysia's large coastline in relation to wind power, what about the use of tidal power like undersea turbines?
The large amount of rivers in malaysia seems to me like a prime reason to at least consider it based on the power plant built on a river in Wales.

Dont worry. Such technology will take its course and progresses eventually when we reach a dead end - oil mines used up..etc

You'll need to scroll down to Figure 5 and Figure 6 to get world supply and demand figures. Demand was ~65,000 tons in 2005, while supply from mines worldwide was ~40,000 tons. Googling up on "annual uranium consumption (or supply)" will give you roughly the same amount.

Ramping up on mining production also takes time and money.

So I'd say it's a worldwide problem. And even if shortages were limited to the US, what makes you think they won't try to take it from someone else?

Are these two the one and the same?

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/05/russia-it...on-ignitor.html

Apart from this and ITER's one in France, I've not read about any new fusion reactor projects.

This post has been edited by VMSmith: May 26 2010, 05:40 PM

Ah, thank you for the correction.

I actually meant ITERs one in france instead of the one being built in Russia. I got the two mixed up. So, yes.. those two projects.

You're welcome.

Ok, now that I understand the issue of frequent cloud cover over Malaysia, it does make solar a dicey proposition. But one thing we do have ample supply of cloud cover or not. Its pure heat... like an oven. Our concrete and road surfaces can radiate temps exceeding 50 deg celsius, hot enough to fry an egg as they say. Its not hard to imagine a whole hillside being converted into a heat sink. Isn't there some kind of technology that can extract all that energy?