Express.
LIB DEM CHRIS HUHNE’S PROMISE ON CHEAP ECO-FUELSUnless there is a massive breakthrough in the efficiency of solar power or the wind starts blowing all the time and the bird choppers suddenly become maintenance free (ie unbreakable) then nothing of the sort in the wonderful world of Chris Huhne is going to happen, though admittedly I can't predict 30 years ahead, on the other hand neither can he. I can predict though that prices will go up and not come down without the sort of breakthroughs mentioned and that much of the price we pay for these "green initiatives" will be subsidies and will remain a drain on our energy bills via government taxation.
HEATING bills will go down once renewable energy is commercial, the Climate Change Secretary has promised.
Chris Huhne said yesterday that the UK needed to prepare for a low carbon future.
In a speech to CentreForum in London the Liberal Democrat admitted there would be costs to consumers at first, but that in the end renewable energy would prove cheaper.
Setting out his vision for a low-cost future, he said the UK needed a “portfolio” of options, adding: “No-one knows what the most successful low carbon technology will be in 30 years.”
The Green Deal, to be rolled out in 2012, will see homes fitted with energy-saving packages.
Householders will pay for the improvements through savings on their bills, Mr Huhne said.
At the moment though the only thing making green energy even remotely competitive with conventional energy generation is a massive energy subsidy from the government currently at over £1 billion a year for windfarms alone, roughly £32.50 on everyones bills.
The only genuine low carbon energy generating option is nuclear power and it has been an utter joy to watch the green movement dump all its opposition to this viable energy source over the last few years compared to their attempts to close down nuclear plants in the 80's and 90's. Again though because of the safety implications involved in generating by nuclear power, a nuclear plant is a hell of a lot more expensive than a coal or gas powered plant. Perhaps the generating industry could look at clean burn technology in those areas, though it seems unlikely whilst the government pisses our taxes away subsidising wind farms and solar panels that are energy inefficient.
So, unlike Chris Huhne, I'm not prepared to believe that energy prices will come down until or unless the government drop their insistence on renewables as a workable form of energy generation, but that's because I live in the real world, not one inhabited by politicians, the gullible and environmental extremists.
5 annotations:
I can predict though that prices will go up no matter what is producing the electricity for the power companies to sell to us.
With Huhne it's tricky to work out whether he was actually dropped on his head as a child or whether he's an elaborate spoof and piss-take.
Part of me still expects him to break down on Question Time one night with tears of laughter rolling down his face and confess he's just been having a laugh the whole time.
I was once very keen on wind power but the numbers just do not add up. Nuclear fusion and let me stress the important word 'fusion' here, is the only truly sustainable solution to the fuel crisis.
MTG
I seem to recall them making the same claims about nuclear power when it was first mooted ('electricity will be too cheap to meter')
Fusion sounds fantastic but nobody has made it work yet... It is not hard to see why either, a fantastically hot plasma held in place with magnetism because it would vaporise anything it came into contact with...?
Perhaps it will work...
In the meanwhile tho, the only sensible solution is to stop pissing money away on windmills and build conventional tried and tested nuclear plants.
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