Our so-called Conservative Government and its virtue signalling green policies. A critique by Chris Davies.

An article by Chris Davies, published on the Bruges Group Blog, illustrates our so-called Government’s hypocritical attitude with regard to its energy policies which are fixated upon obtaining Carbon Net Zero.

I reproduce a couple of paragraphs below.

“The UK government is keen to articulate its green credentials around the central metric of emitting less than 1% of global CO2. This is fallacious in all but name. By reducing domestic energy production to just over half of the country's needs, instead relying on imported gas, oil and coal, we have simply displaced where the CO2 is emitted whilst conveniently ignoring the additional CO2 created through transportation.”

Mr Davies notes the deficiencies in current policy and lists his eminently sensible and practical solutions.

“I recommend the government urgently reconsiders their position. In the short term:

• Remove 5% VAT on domestic energy bills;
• Abolish the 25% green energy subsidy embedded in all energy bills;
• Grant further licences for oil and gas exploration in the North Sea;
• Urgently review the feasibility of opening a new coal mine in Cumbria;
• Maintain the 3 remaining coal fired power stations in operation until there is no further need for them as a contingency source of energy;
• Stop the early decommissioning of existing nuclear power plants and return them to production;
• Remove the moratorium on fracking to deliver cheap gas, thousands of jobs and £ billions of GDP in the Blackpool area in short order;
• Utilise new British nuclear technology from Rolls Royce and others through capital investment and R&D tax incentives to commission the construction of mini plants around the coast line to ensure we have safe, cost effective nuclear energy as a significant part of our energy mix by 2035.”
  
  

Mr Davies had the article, entitled Time to Pivot to Domestic Energy, published on the Bruges Group Blog on 13 Feb.  Since then a lot has happened to make his views even more relevant.

Here is a link to the whole article.

Time to pivot for Domestic Energy - Bruges Group Blog

 

Hate your heat pump? Then buy a better one! Letters in The Week on the pros and cons of heat pumps.

The letters below appeared in the October 23 edition of The Week having first been published in The Daily Telegraph.  It appears to me that air-source heat pumps are a waste of money and effort, and ground-source heat pumps are only viable if you have room on your land for 320 feet of trench – fine if you are fortunate enough to own “fields”!

Hate your heat pump?

To The Daily Telegraph.

I’m no expert, but I have had personal experience of a heat pump during the past seven years.  It was sourced and installed by a German company.  Does the Government know how cumbersome they are, and how they dribble water?  Ours is installed outside in our back yard, as there’s no way we could accommodate such a large appliance inside our home.  We have a thriving moss patch around it.

Do ministers know how they guzzle electricity in colder weather in order to function at all, or how loud they are?  I’ve had to apologise to neighbours many times over the years about the noise, which kicks in at the most unexpected and inopportune times.

Maja Dijkstra, Glasgow.

Then buy a better one.

To The Daily Telegraph.

Maja Dijkstra perpetuates the commonly held belief that all heat pumps are air-source, but this is not the case.  I have an excellent ground-source heat pump, which provides abundant hot water and keeps the house warm, with lower bills.  It has done so for 13 years.  Its disadvantages were its cost and the inconvenience of installation: it required two 160 foot trenches to be dug in our fields.  However, if all new houses had to have ground-source heat pump, the expense would be incorporated into the cost of the home, and the work could be done by the builders.  Air-source heat pumps are indeed noisy and don’t work very well when it is really cold.  People buy them because they are cheaper and convenient to install – but these appear to be their only advantages.

Elizabeth Jones, Chard, Somerset.

So it seems we will have to give up our efficient gas boilers and install new systems using an expensive and complicated technology in order to meet the Government’s “ambitious” net-zero-carbon targets. Yet we live on an island made of coal which also contains an abundance of shale gas.  Unfortunately our so-called Conservative Government led by Boris, and his wife, appear to be fully supportive of Greta Thunberg and in step with the eco loons belonging to Extinction Rebellion.

Green U-Turns by the British Political Establishment.

Having a wood-burner I sympathise with the letter below which appeared in The Week on 27 February, it was first published in The Times.

As for making things last as long as possible, I scrapped my 1998 registered Subaru Impreza last September.  It was 4 years old when I bought it, and it gave me 18 years of enjoyable and reliable service - I think we both did our bit for the environment!

Green U-Turns

To The Times  

In 2001, Labour introduced new vehicle tax rates that encouraged us to buy diesel cars.  We bought one.  About 15 to 20 years ago the advice was to buy a wood-burner because wood, being carbon neutral, was better for the environment than fossil fuels.  We bought one.  This week you reported that we are being urged to ditch wood-burning stoves as data showed they are the worst pollutants.  On top of this, we are told to make the things we buy last as long as possible, as this is better for the environment.  Presumably this includes wood-burners and cars?  What are we supposed to do?  Will the advice change in a few years’ time?

Marianne Beale, Saltash, Cornwall.