From: me@privacy.net   
      
   Charles Ellson  wrote in   
   news:ugum7alo98vfv84inrg103b1gjo2ekpf2v@4ax.com:   
      
   >>   
   >>Which, of course, is where hydro is at its best - dealing with short   
   >>term surges in demand.   
   >>   
   > So SBB use it only for short uphill spurts ?   
      
   Train demand is transient - peak hours. Rest of the time it can run on the   
   25% base load supply, particularly at night, giving the dams a chance to   
   refill. It's notable that Switzerland imports most of its electrical   
   supply. Their home generation accounts for 15% of the total and, of that in   
   the 1970s was 90% hydro and the rest gas fired. By 2000, this had fallen to   
   56% hydro when nuclear arrived. So it's not hard for the Swiss to claim   
   they're low carbon, they just get someone else generate it for them.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)