Santa Claus has to get around the world in 24 hours - quite a task for a man who has to stop at billions of houses in this time space. Of course, we don't know how he does it, but hypothetically. What would Santa's power his sleigh on, to keep his
business electricity rates low?
Nuclear Power
For Santa Nuclear power may provide a very pragmatic option. Nuclear power offers
the big man the chance to create large amounts of energy from the tinniest amount of material. Santa wouldn't have to stop his sleigh for refills and would also leave no carbon emissions as nuclear power is a clean resource. The downside of Santa using nuclear fission
to power his sleigh is that accidents do happen and unfortunately with nuclear power. they are
often far more serious than with most other forms of energy. However, it is one to consider especially for the business electricity rates in the North Pole throughout the year.
Coal
Traditionally, Santa would have powered his sled with this power source. However, times were different and Santa didn't have to visit as many homes during the Industrial Revolution as he does now. The seven-fold increase in population means that Santa Claus would leave a lot of carbon emissions when visiting all the homes, while he would also burn a large amount of coal having to stop and start from each home. Coal doesn't seem like a feasible resource for Santa and his sleigh nowadays unfortunately.
Solar Power
Of course, Santa could use PV solar panels to power his sled. It's cheap,
efficient and clean and is available directly from the sun. The only downside, however, since Santa flies at night to all the boys and girls throughout the world and solar panels need sunshine to work. Solar panels also need to cover a lot of space to produce enough energy. However, if Santa
could use this form of power, he could then take advantage of the feed in tariff and make money on the power he doesn't use the other 364 days of the year.
Petrol or Diesel
Santa could also use petrol or diesel, which both are made from oil. This would certainly power his sleigh. However, though
it is cheap it is not very efficient, and so he would have to stop off every so often to fill up and take time delivering presents to the boys and girls. Santa would also create a lot of carbon dioxide and would have to convert to another form of power when oil ran out.
Electric
Santa of could also use electric power to get
his sleigh from Bangkok to Boston and back again. However, electric power has quite
a short range and needs to be charged from the mains every-so-often. This may mean that Santa will have to wait for eight hours to charge after his battery runs out in the Middle East, so he should consider this when deciding, alongside business electricity rates.
It's hard to know which form of energy Santa could use to get his sleigh around the world in time, without creating an environmental mess, while still getting low business electricity
rates. Perhaps a mix of some of the above, or maybe a new
power that isn't ready for use such as hydrogen?
