With all the news focused on NoW, Rupert Murdoch and the corruption associated you will have been forgiven if you failed to fully take notice of the huge energy reforms announced last week by Chris Huhne.
Given only a cursory glance by many of the major news avenues in the UK media Chris Huhne’s announcement shows a welcome commitment by the government to reduce emissions and ensure greater energy security; not to mention the inevitable brown and black outs the country faces if significant investment is not made, in Chris Huhnes own words, "We have to stop dithering, you can have blackouts or you can have investment. Which do you want?".
This reform indicates an end to the liberalised electricity market implemented by the Thatcher government, in by which the private sector would provide competition and keep prices low. This did work in the short term when the electricity market was essentially oversupplied however it made no plans for long term and has part resulted in the sad state of affairs we are now; facing significant global warming and with little to no long term energy security.
The UK needs significant investment in low-carbon energy, mainly renewables, nuclear and possibly carbon-capture (though the merits of this technology are in doubt both in capture and storage); if it is to avoid falling foul of the European Union’s and its own emissions targets and the threat of brown and black outs. To try and achieve this aim Chris Huhne and the government’s white paper outlined a strategy to guide private investment; this includes a minimum carbon price, contracts with energy suppliers for low-carbon energy, a regulation setting maximum emissions levels, a set of payments to ensure sufficient capacity and a new energy efficiency obligation.
While this is definitely welcome news the worry is that these reforms will not go far enough. Firstly Chris Huhne also used this announcement to usher in a new “dash for gas”, now as I have stated previously in this blog a push for natural gas will only result in the UK being depenedant on greenhouse emitting fossil fuels for the foreseeable future and will risk significantly stifling investment in the renewable industry, which is still in its infancy in this country. The IEA’s own executive director Nobuo Tanaka, stated in a press conference in London, "While natural gas is the cleanest fossil fuel, it is still a fossil fuel. Its increased use could muscle out low-carbon fuels such as renewables and nuclear, particularly in the wake of Fukushima. An expansion of gas use alone is no panacea for climate change." So the last thing that the UK needs is a new “dash for gas”, to do so would end any hope of the UK ushering in a green revolution and would inevitably put us on the back foot compared to the rest of Europe.
Secondly over the coming years 9 of the UK’s oil and coal fired power stations are due to be decommissioned along with the last remaining Magnox and two AGR nuclear reactors; this will result in a significant energy gap, with brownouts a certainty and blackouts predicted by 2016. Unless miraculously the UK can construct and commission its planned nuclear power plants and invest significantly in renewable energy there is no avoiding this and that will take unprecedented investment in low-carbon energy. Though this investment could lead the UK to becoming a clean-tech hub for Europe, revitalising the manufacturing industry, creating new jobs and leading to greater economic stability.
In conclusion the energy reforms announced by Chris Huhne are essentially a good thing however unless they are backed up by significant investment and action from the government in the direction of low-carbon energy, and associated infrastructure, (and not a new “dash for gas”) then the UK have no chance of keeping the lights on let alone reaching its emissions targets.
No comments:
Post a Comment