Unhinged in Uxbridge

Pro-poor, pro-planet

Things can only get…

1. Nuclear is an expensive delusion. It won’t deliver any carbon reductions within this decade (and probably not the next). As the only technology on a rising cost curve, it will drive up people’s energy bills like nothing else. Far better to redirect nuclear subsidies into home energy-efficiency programmes.

2. Carbon capture and storage is not much better. It requires huge government subsidies (and carbon credits) that will not even match the current carbon emissions CCS is designed to justify. Better to focus investment on innovative “on site” alternative energy sources and localised reuse of emissions (and heat). Annually reducing carbon budgets would help drive this process.

3. North Sea drilling offers nothing to British energy security. The licences go to international companies which sell into international markets. New licences bolster corporate profits not British energy security.

4. North Sea drilling won’t lower the “carbon intensity” of British gas consumption. Britain imports a mixture of cleaner and dirtier gas supplies. Norway’s is the cleanest (because it sets the highest standards). Britain could set the same standard (or import everything from Norway).

   But it won’t.

5. (Green) hydrogen will help with steel production but is an absurd option for domestic heating. There is so much overhyping of hydrogen that there’s a danger of overlooking the few areas where it could make a real difference. The reasons behind the hype are all to do with justifying a continued use of fossil fuels and the corporate desire for monopoly control of a national gas grid.

6. The National Grid has to be fundamentally restructured, returning to its original role as Britain’s not-for-profit “strategic reserve.” Then it too must be given a statutory duty to deliver 10 per cent annual carbon reductions.

Grid-locked thinking

Money, money, money