What the UK should (but will not) do to address the energy crisis
The United Kingdom, alongside much of Europe, now faces the worst energy crisis in living memory, perhaps the worst in the historical record.
This crisis is very unlikely to be resolved rapidly, since the causes are fundamentally political.
Yet Europe’s politicians, and the UK is no exception, cannot bring themselves to admit that the renewable energy obsession of climate policies in the last thirty years are to blame for the current over-exposure to natural gas.
So long as politicians fail to understand or shy away from this recognition, they will not take the necessary actions, which entail a return to ‘fossil fuels’, and will instead continue to add still more renewable energy capacity to already degraded and tottering energy systems.
The current crisis is not the result of physical fundamentals relating to ‘fossil fuel’ production – gas, coal, and oil are all plentiful and the costs of production are still low – nor is it solely the result of geopolitical events, though the invasion of Ukraine has made a bad situation much worse.
The crisis is the result of the subsidised adoption of thermodynamically incompetent energy sources such as wind and solar, which only degrade the efficiency of their host economies, while contributing nothing towards security of supply.
Indeed, it is because of renewables that European security of supply hangs by the single thread of natural gas, exposing the whole continent to Russia’s weaponization of energy supply.
The situation is now so desperate that only a very limited range of moves are possible, and these are in themselves hazardous. Only very brave and far-sighted governments will set out on this long march to a better energy future, and we are far from confident that political will of this strength exists in any European state.
What the UK must do is simple and yet so very politically difficult:
The government must admit that the 2050 Net Zero target is now not only unattainable but a positive danger to national well-being.
It must be suspended until the economy and the fuel supply have been stabilised. More renewables will only serve to further weaken our energy sector and increase critical exposure to natural gas.
The government should recommit to fossil fuels, giving a clear signal to the UK’s energy companies and to ‘fossil fuel’ suppliers globally. This signal could take the form of
The rapid granting of consents for a fleet of new Combined Cycle Gas Turbines (CCGTs) of higher thermal efficiency.
The granting of consent for a new fleet of coal fired power stations using the Ultra-Super-Critical technology.
The vigorous support of both further exploration in the North Sea, and onshore through hydraulic fracturing for both natural gas and oil.
Long before these policies begin to yield physical dividends, the hard-headed realism of such actions would calm the international financial markets, and would permit UK traders to secure long-term ‘fossil fuel’ supply contracts at more advantageous prices.
However, public opinion is so confused and poorly informed by low quality journalism in the print and broadcast media, and parliament so ignorant and unrealistic, that we do not expect any foreseeable UK government to have the courage to undertake such actions.
Nevertheless, further delay and self-indulgent toying with renewable energy will only delay the inevitable return to physically superior ‘fossil fuels’.
It is almost certain that things will get much worse before they get better.
See more here net zero watch
Header image: CNN
Some bold emphasis added
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Alan
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Spot on but the problem is, as pointed out, that this has been 30 years in the making and it has had a lot of public support. Infrastructure that is easy to damage cannot be quickly replaced.
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Tom
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Expecting government to fix any problem they have created is purely ludicrous. Chances are very great they will just make things a whole lot worse.
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Ken Hughes
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But the destruction of the energy supply, price inflation and the ultimate collapse of the Western world’s economies is deliberate, Clearly, they are not motivated to cure a problem they have willfully created. We have been taken over by a subtle coup and we must take back control using a similar method.
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Saighdear
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Don’t beat around the bush: THERE IS a crisis of Stupidity engineered into the community at large: taken a long time, but by jove, they’ve done a great job of it in creating “sheople”. If only we knew / could discover who those real leaders are!
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Kevin Doyle
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Dr. Benny Peiser,
Thank you for a thoughtfully written article.
Unfortunately, you are one of the few individuals in society who embrace ‘Critical Thinking’.
The entire ‘Greenhouse Gas Theory” is based upon several falsehoods. Most important falsehood is that certain gases can ‘warm’ the surface of Earth. There is no gas in existence which could do such a thing, with the exception of Hydrogen, which has a Specific Heat lower than all other atmospheric gases.
It is theoretically possible, if you made Earth’s atmosphere 10% Hydrogen, then yes. The air might warm.
All other gases COOL the atmosphere.
This is reality!
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