Nuclear power alternatives

Press, 18 February 1977, Page 4

Nuclear power alternatives

It was not inevitable thati nuclear power would be needed to meet New Zealand’s energy requirements, a I member of the Energy Re-| search and Development Committee and head of the department of mechanical engineering at the University of Auckland (Professor R. F. Meyer) said in Christchurch yesterday. Commenting after he had presented a paper on energy requirements in New Zealand to the annual conference of the Institution of Engineers, Professor Meyer said that the use of nucleargenerated electricity would depend to a large extent on what type of industrial development New Zealand chose to follow. If the choice were made to develop technological industries rather than those which required a higher input of energy then there might b no need for nuclear power. Professor Meyer said he supported comments made hy the deputy-secretary for the Department of Industry and Commerce (Mr G. Datson) about the need to begin ( planning for smal Ito medium technological industries. “The ultimate limitation inj energy resources is a long way off and there is considerable room for expansion,” he said. It was of vital importance, Professor Meyer said, for the potential of energy farming to be fully exploited. New Zealand could get about 10 per cent of liquid fuel requirements from alco-l

hoi produced from trees and crops and there had already been major progress in this type of energy investigation. ' The use of kelp to produce alcohol was also an area worth investigation. Alternative sources of energy at present might be too expensive, but as the cost of generating electricity by conventional means increased many of the alternatives would become more attractive. The alternatives already under contract to the Energy Research and Development Committee were geothermal power; wind-derived electricity; solar hot-water heating; heat pumps; wood for solid fuel and conversion to gaseous and liquid fuels; district heating for distribution of heat to domestic, commercial and industrial sectors, and in-plant heat and electricity generation in industry. TV set stolen A black-and-white television set, worth about $250, was stolen from a house in Waiwetu Street, Fendalton, on Wednesday night. Thieves entered the house by forcing a latched window. At Bluff Wet and weary after a rough trip around the Southland coast, Garry Phillips, of Nelson, arrived at Bluff last night on his solo voyage round New Zealand in a runabout.