Dale Vince
Britain’s new North Sea?
Energy
The North Sea is running out of oil and gas – well, it was always going to happen… More unexpectedly perhaps, this year it cost the taxpayer £400m to support (that’s the cost of tax breaks to the net of tax revenue) – it is clearly an industry in terminal decline. It’s been coming for some time of course, as has the answer to the question – where Britain will get its gas from?
The government’s chosen answer is Fracking: probably the most unpopular source of energy ever, so unpopular (and uneconomic) that the government had to water down environmental protections, change land ownership and planning law, promise the most generous tax regime anywhere in the world, and literally force this new industry on a countryside in revolt.
But there is another way for Britain to replace North Sea gas – and with a source of gas that is sustainable in all senses of the word. (more…)
Green Gas
Energy
Last week we launched our Green Gas for Britain report and started our campaign to change government thinking, on where Britain gets it gas. It’s something we’ve been working on for a couple of years. This is my personal perspective on that.
Ecotricity began life in 1995, born of the realisation that the conventional way of making electricity, by burning fossil fuels, was the biggest single source of climate change. Our proposed solution was a new kind of electricity, the green kind.
We were the world’s first green electricity company, and while the technology to make green electricity was relatively new, we could see a potential future where all electricity was made this way – utilizing the Wind, Sun and Sea. What we couldn’t see was a renewable alternative for gas, and for many years we held the view that we had to simply wean ourselves off of this rather versatile energy source, and shift heat loads from gas to electricity. That changed for us in 2010 when we bumped into the concept of green gas – gas made by the anaerobic digestion of organic material, which could then be ‘scrubbed up’ and put into the gas grid. It was a direct parallel to green electricity. And our missing link.
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Brexit fallout – video interview
Energy, Food, TransportHere’s an interview I did with ITV a couple of weeks ago, discussing the EU referendum result.
I still believe that a 4% margin for leave over remain is too small for such a dramatic change in our country’s relationship with the EU – especially because the pledges made by Johnson, Farage and Gove about the NHS and immigration have turned out to be lies.
We’re going to end up with a worse deal by leaving rather than remaining in the EU, so I hope that once the Brexit plan has been finalised, a second referendum will be called and people can decide if that’s really what they want for our country.
Guest post: Can eating less meat really tackle climate change?
Food
I came across this article the other day.
It’s by Mike Berners-Lee and it’s a very different approach to the subject of food efficiency.
I’ve seen a lot of statistics on this issue, mostly around the amount of plant protein it takes to produce animal protein – for example 10kg of plant protein to make 1kg of Beef. That’s at the top end of the figures but Beef is always the worst performer with Chicken and Fish at the more efficient end of the scale – but still taking more protein in than they give back.
Mike comes at this in a way I’ve not seen before and I thought it was worth sharing.
Cheers
Guest post: Can eating less meat really tackle climate change?
Mike Berners-Lee
With the food system accounting for up to a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, anything that reduces its impact will make a big difference to the climate.
It is a system riddled with inefficiencies and waste. Humans don’t simply eat food straight out of the ground, of course. It’s harvested, stored, processed – or fed to animals who are in turn slaughtered and processed – and finally packaged and delivered. Each of these stages uses energy, which means emissions.
In very rough terms, the world grows about 6,000 calories per person a day in edible crop harvest. That is about three times the 2,000 calories a day that end up getting to be eaten by humans. This would be enough to feed everyone if we shared it round perfectly, which we don’t, so some people go hungry while others eat more than is good for them.
So what happens to the massive 4,000 calories per day gap between field and fork and what has this got to do with going vegetarian or even vegan?
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Deeper down the rabbit hole
Energy
You have to pinch yourself when the government announces another new subsidy for the fossil fuel industry, not only because they so recently said that renewable energy should stand on its own two feet, but also because they’re announcing this just days before the latest climate conference in Paris – at which world leaders will gather to try and hammer out a global deal to reduce emissions. To reduce emissions, we need to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Our government is completely out of touch on this issue.
Leaking renewable targets
Energy
A leaked letter from Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd, seen by The Ecologist shows that the Government’s public position that we are going to meet our legally binding renewables target – is not the truth. On the contrary the government clearly believes we will miss the target and Rudd discusses various options for making up the shortfall – none of which appear to be viable, by her own assessment. The one option not discussed is the reinstatement of support for renewable energy… instead Rudd appears to pin her hopes on the support for renewable heat not also being cut.
Cameron’s Green Energy Poppycock
Energy
The ‘green energy austerity’ of this government is a political choice. It’s not driven by logic or economics, but ideology.
Around 1,000 jobs were lost last month as one of Britain’s biggest solar companies went into administration – a direct result of the government’s slash and burn of green policies. There’ll be more to come as the impacts of recent announcements begin to bite.
The irony is that this came in the same week as a new report, from Bloomberg, confirmed that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy we can build. This is the latest of many reports that show just how illogical the government’s approach to energy policy is, and just how much the renewable sector has to offer.
Around 25% of the UK’s power now comes from renewable sources – an indigenous energy supply that creates no pollution, is immune to global commodity price rises, enables us to hit climate change targets and creates jobs and industry right here in Britain. (more…)
A letter to Green Party supporters
EnergyHere’s a letter we wrote to the Green Party, thought it might be of interest to contextualise our Labour donation.
Hello everyone,
To say this has been an interesting, even challenging week, would be an understatement. We’ve had a lot of response to our support for Labour and I think to many people it’s been either hard to understand or misunderstood. I wanted to try and explain that better here. (more…)
David Cameron – Mythmonger
Energy
David Cameron’s remarks yesterday to the liaison committee of MPs about renewable energy might just play a big part in his downfall at the general election.
His comments were contradictory at best, they laid bare once again the monumental lie that was his promise to lead the greenest government ever, and – perhaps more importantly – ignored a growing tide of feeling in Britain that we need to properly tackle climate change and embrace renewable energy.
Cameron is really out of step with the country on green issues.
This is the year in which membership of the Green Party has doubled; the year in which the IPCC made it clearer than ever that we have to completely give up fossil fuels by 2050 or face catastrophic climate consequences; the year in which climate change made itself more than evident as temperatures in Europe hit their highest since the 1500s. (more…)
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