tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148608036370776702.post2247683639369797951..comments2023-10-26T12:25:17.435+01:00Comments on Neil Stockley: Bold new thinking needed for UK energy independenceNeil Stockleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11049181290242914014noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148608036370776702.post-63852724811354903372008-09-02T13:35:00.000+01:002008-09-02T13:35:00.000+01:00I wonder: could the person who opined that we have...I wonder: could the person who opined that we have "done" energy policy be the same person who told me that the green revolution had "sorted" the World's food supply just months before the price of agricultural commodities started to soar!<BR/><BR/>I don't think the Lib Dem establishment has yet understood the gravity or imminence of the energy crisis which very different from earlier crises.<BR/><BR/>While it is well known that oil and gas reserves in the North Sea are past their prime and that production is tapering down it is less generally known that this will happen globally in the next few years. Indeed, because of surging domestic demand in OPEC, export volumes are already declining - hence recent high oil prices.<BR/><BR/>We therefore face a future of recurrent run-ups in the oil price which will impact, then limit economic growth.<BR/><BR/>And because gas prices tend to follow oil (and are likely to do so more closely in the future)this will spill over into electricity prices with dire consequences all round - "eating or heating" is the invidious choice increasing numbers will face. I will be very surprised if burnig gas to generate electricity is seen as even remotely feasible for several "decades" into the future.<BR/><BR/>Against this backdrop to talk of improving markets is to miss the point. Yes markets can and should be better but, however desireable, this does not amount to an energy policy. <BR/><BR/>In fact the market is working rather well - for the Russians! They have understood that markets are about power, specifically relative power between buyers and sellers. By consolidating power on their side and negotiating with individual EU countries they have managed the age-old trick of divide and rule to their own huge advantage and the EU has fallen at the first energy hurdle.<BR/><BR/>(As an aside, this is just another example of why I think Lib Dems need to take a far cooler look at just how fit-for-purpose as currently organised the EU really is. Not very!)<BR/><BR/>As for the implication that the EU might "possibly" eventually source all its non-renewable requirements from within the EU, this will, I think, be a big surprise to anyone in the energy business. <BR/><BR/>We need urgently to develop new sources of energy. The choices are strictly limited yet neither the EU or the UK has an energy policy worthy of the name.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148608036370776702.post-57923892089582067372008-09-01T16:41:00.000+01:002008-09-01T16:41:00.000+01:00Converting real time shaft power from renewable en...Converting real time shaft power from renewable energy sources such as tidal stream, waves and perhaps wind into HEAT and storing it in large thermal accumulators (batteries) will give this country total 'energy independence'.<BR/><BR/>Electricity can be generated from the heat store subject to demand at a considerable time later.<BR/><BR/>See Gentec venturi for more detailsUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15560669141119535155noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148608036370776702.post-74289372975320644552008-09-01T13:23:00.000+01:002008-09-01T13:23:00.000+01:00Hear, hear Tristan (p.s. don't go)Hear, hear Tristan (p.s. don't go)James Schneiderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00418770297192706019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7148608036370776702.post-57814141411573065682008-08-31T16:52:00.000+01:002008-08-31T16:52:00.000+01:00I wish we had done with it. This 'energy independe...I wish we had done with it. This 'energy independence' thing is the most idiotic, nationalistic piece of crap to come out of the party for a long time.<BR/><BR/>Why should we be energy independent? That's not sustainable. We'd be dependent on what we can produce in the UK, if something went wrong we'd be helpless - its the same with food, something the Liberals recognised once upon a time.<BR/><BR/>Its right for us to be wary of being dependent upon one source for energy, we definitely don't want to depend upon Russia or Saudi Arabia, but to say we can provide all our needs ourselves is the path to poverty.<BR/><BR/>Has nobody in the party heard of comparative advantage? We are crap at producing some things, its the way it is, so lets produce what we're good at producing and sell them for those things we're crap at selling.Tristanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15395992764678278326noreply@blogger.com