The BBC’s ‘Countryfile’ programme recently covered the Archimedean screw hydro-turbine set into the weir on the River Thames at Windsor, which supplies the Castle. The question this raises is why every weir on all our rivers isn’t being equipped with this ancient piece of technology, coupled with more modern generating equipment.
There are dozens of disused mills all over the country with the basics still in place – a wheel housing and wheel house, the infamous mill pond, usually the size of a small reservoir and with close access to the local electrical infrastructure.
The obsession with planting thousands of acres of high-quality farmland with solar PV cells that by their very nature have short life spans and are high maintenance – they need cleaning at least once a year, or else their output drops even more than just their ageing process – is just nonsense. Similar issues affect wind turbines – high maintenance cost and...