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# Energy group read, Week 6
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/energy-group-read-week-6/
- Published: 2009-02-23T10:02:10.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T23:00:24.000Z
- Author: Tony Curzon Price
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 19:57

**Feb 23 2009\. Join the Group Read. Chapters 10 and 11\. Offshore and gadgets**

(Instructions on how to join are [at the bottom of the original post](https://www.opendemocracy.net/article/economics/energy-without-hot-air-group-read))

Offshore wind seems intuitively a nice option for an island liuke Britain - out of the sight, a sort of power belt that you can see from high places on a clear day. The energy is indeed there - about as much as we use for our heating and cooling. But you'd need an aweful lot of turbines and a massive investment. (Would we then have to worry about the birds?)

What about our chargers and gadgets? There is a myth that they are responsible for the developing "power gap" -- all those new power stations we will need over the next 20 years as the big nuclear power stations are decommissioned. Well, it turns out to be quite small - about the same energy consumption we use for lighting.

Just like to repeat a big thank you to **David MacKay** who has been very supportive of this project, and to **William Sigmund** without whose amazing html and perl skills I do not think we would have had an online version to work with.