BLOG:
There is an urgent need for an informed debate about energy provision,
however meaningful discussion is hindered by lack of clarity over subsidies and
liabilities. The effects and relative merits of Nuclear and Fossil Fuels versus
renewables cannot be assessed without this disclosure.
Please sign this petition:
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/
Please sign this petition:
For decades nuclear power has provided enormous amount of electricity
worldwide providing reliable energy needed to drive economical grow and
prosperity but are the cost for nuclear fuel storage and decommissioning
included in the costs of electricity generation? Furthermore, the risks which
come with every form of energy productions have to be taken into account, these
cannot be ignored.
The Deepwater Horizont’ incident in 2010 off the coast of America is
costing BP some Billions of pound sterling which so far the company is paying
for but the costs of the Fukushima incident will be carried by the whole
Japanese population for generations to come.
What are the costs, risks and benfits of of the various forms of energy production?
How much does the government invest/subsidise the various forms of
energy productions and on what basis are such decisions made.
Austerity and saving money is the motivation behind most of the current
government’s policies, therefore energy saving should be top priority as it saves
costs and carbon dioxide.
The government has to lead by example reducing energy usage immediately
starting with the Houses of Parliament, Museums, libraries etc. basically all
taxpayers founded institutions and set realistic but yet challenging energy use
reduction targets.
Surveys have to be conducted and acted upon, enormous savings that can
be made by improving the general insulation and using well proven technology
such as LED, air source/ground source heat pumps. LED’s don’t only save energy
but have less embodied energy and have a much longer live expectancy than
fluorescence lighting reducing the maintenance cost. We have the means to live
as individuals as well as a nation much more energy efficiently.
Nobody needs to live in caves and you don’t have to dispose of your car,
just use it wisely. To maintain our living standard drive the economy, create
economic growth and prosperity we need energy but we don’t need to waste it.
Carbon in the atmosphere is an issue that affects all of mankind. It is
a huge long term problem that needs long term and global solutions. Short term
resolutions and hoping for the best simply will not do here. Even if we find
the magical solution of zero carbon energy now we all have to deal with the
consequences such as changing weather patterns and everything which comes with
it, inconveniencing some of us and causing devastation for many.
An idea would be a United Nations sponsored competition to find
solutions for reducing Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere, human ingenuity can
produce marvellous results. In the meantime we just have to get on with it use
energy more wisely, prepare a bit better and help those worse effected.
Renewables have a fantastic track record in a very hostile environment,
having had a fraction of the benefits nukes and other forms of power
production. Solar, wind and many other renewable do work without having the
huge problems other forms of energy production have. Not only can solar and
wind provide plenty of energy, but also plenty of decent jobs in engineering,
design, manufacturing, installation, maintenance and so on. Over 350 thousand
people worked in the renewable energy industry in Germany in the last so many
years. In the first half of 2012 Renewables in Germany supplied 25% of Germany’s
electricity needs (that’s the equivalent of 45% of the British electricity
needs) having produced not even 5% 15 years earlier. All political parties in Germany are comitted to renewables and the target is to produce 50% of German electricity needs using renewables by 2030.
http://www.bmu.de/fileadmin/bmu-import/files/english/pdf/application/pdf/ee_in_zahlen_tischvorlage_en.pdf
Germany is of course not some amazing utopia where everything works
perfectly efficient and smoothly, far from it but the commitment to renewable
energy has made matters not worse but better as you find out if you care
reading on. The sun radiates more energy onto earth than all humans will ever
be able to consume, well I am sure we could manage somehow if we are wasteful
enough.
Going for renewable does not destroy manufacturing or harm exports. In
2011 renewable energy production in Germany reached over 20% of the total
electricity production and was not even 5% 15 years earlier. The German economy
relies heavily on export whereas export of goods in Britain and France accounts
for only about 15% of its GPD.
Nuclear power accounts for ca. 75% of the total electricity production
in France, and ca. 20% in the UK and Germany. conclusion: going for renewable
does not necessarily destroy manufacturing as the above data clearly shows; in
the case of Germany the opposite is true. Germany not only maintained but
bettered its position in the league of exporting nations. China, the world
biggest exporters is harvesting more energy from renewables than the whole of
Europe, if you take Germany out of the equation.
Going for renewables does not ruin a country’s public finances,
increases unemployment and poverty. The German public finances, unemployment
and the standard of living are no worse than that of Britain or France and
France produces ca. 75% of its electricity needs with nukes. Japan had before
Fukushima over 50 nukes on the grid and has been for the last 20-25 odd years
in an economical slump. Japan has also one of the highest debt ratio of
developing countries in 2011 nearly 3 times that of Britain, France or Germany.
