Alternatives:
Biogas
Less consumption
Making Russia and the Middle East rich.
Gasification to an extent.
There you go...
Of course all the energy firms won't like that!
So maybe they'll just follow the example of water companies and charge us more for less via metering...
Oops...they're planning to do that via 'smart meters'!
Either way we get screwed - either through the latest nuclear subsidies, pollution of our local enviroment, or just plain old 'green taxes'...
Unfortunately, the only way to consume less is to earn less money (or carbon taxes). History shows that energy efficiency improvements result in an increase in consumption in the long run, so if we all just used LED bulbs, and switched them off when not in use and all other measures we hear about, the savings will result in more money being spent elsewhere.
Earning just enough to live is a very environmentally friendly thing to do.
Any upgrade to the National Grid will cost money though, and while global demand will only go up for the foreseeable future (as a trend), demand in the UK hasn't gone up that much since 1970 on a per household basis.
Of course increases in energy demand globally cannot continue indefinitely, and a 3% yearly increase will see us exceeding the total energy we receive from the sun in the year 2794(ish).
And in the year 3985 will have exceeded the total output of the sun, and the Earth will be hotter than the surface of the sun!
By 4773 it will exceed the output of the milkyway galaxy!
OK, a bit of a fun thought experiment.
But we do need new power stations, as both old nuclear and coal close down, and we need low carbon technology.
