| Elaboration on the Manifesto Articles |
Current policy in the UK is concentrating on the achievement of the 10% renewables target established by Kyoto. The emissions reduction target is under discussion as the initial proposal to the EU has been revised downwards on closer inspection, and this is causing some debate.
Energy production in the UK used to be coal-based, but has increasingly moved to oil and, more particularly, gas. Hydro-electric and nuclear provide the final elements. Wind power is seen as the principle resource for green energy production, with tidal power a way off and solar power being uneconomical as a bulk generator. The oil lobby is funding protest groups and mis-information in the media to make wind power more difficult to harness. The principle complaint of these protest groups is that wind turbines are unsightly and ruin the countryside.
I find this attitude bizarre in the extreme. How can a beautiful, elegant piece of machinery - even hundreds of them - spoil anyone's view of the countryside? They enhance the view. Seeing fields of turbines on hilltops gives me a warm feeling of satisfaction that someone, somewhere, cares enough about the environment to build them. They are far kinder to the environment than the ugly cooling towers of traditional power plants.
The future is, however, likely to be with the technological improvement of fossil fuel power plants, which with the use of biomass firing, clean-burn technology and sequestration of CO2 can reach near-zero emissions, with sufficient motivation to make the necessary investments. Emerging economies can gain an advantage in this regard, as they are building new plant rather than retrofitting old plant. They must be given access to the latest technologies so that they are not forced into building old-style systems.
Nuclear generation may have a future, if it can be shown that it is safe. One possibility is the design of new nuclear plants that work more like batteries than power plants - lasting hundreds of years with minimal moving parts and ultra-low risks. Toshiba are developing this technology and the first commercial unit looks set to be installed in a town in Alaska. If it proves itself, mini-nuclear plants might be used in more built-up areas, or in villages across the world, to power local homes and businesses as well as reducing dependance on distribution grids.
Solar power is improving rapidly. Companies in the UK (e.g. Solar Century) are now able to provide roofing tiles that replace the existing tiles and generate electricity all year round. These systems can be combined with the specialist supply mechanisms, such as NPower's Juice, to balance generation with demand and greatly reduce the need for remote power generation. If all houses in Britain were re-roofed with these tiles over the next 5 years, how many power stations could be shut down for good? Combine that with tightened heat efficiency regulations and the highly efficient generation technology provided by companies such as Engion, and the demand for fossil-fuel generation will fall dramatically.
A near zero emissions target for power generation is achievable. What is more, the carbon trading scheme would offset some of the cost of implementing such changes unilaterally, as well as showing the rest of the world how it is done.
These are the policies that the UK government should be concentrating on, with regard to power generation:
The next largest contributor to CO2 emissions after power generation is transport. This relates mainly to road and air transport, although rail transport has a small part to play, as well.
In the UK, road transport is being encouraged to think greener by a combination of taxes and the incentivisation of R&D. Green fuels such as diesel derived from oilseed rape and hydrogen are subject to far lower duties. Cars that meet low emission criteria are to be subject to lower road tax and awarded coloured stickers to advertise the fact. All research and development is being encouraged by a system of tax credits, which, with the increased consumer demand for greener cars, is driving manufacturers to improve the carbon-efficiency of their products.
The most promising technology for vehicle transport is the hydrogen cell. Currently the available journey range and lack of infrastructure is holding things back, but these challenges are being met. Just recently an order was placed by the city of New York for hydrogen cell buses, to trial the technology.
A possibly simpler technology is provided by the Engion SteamCell technology, which uses the cleanest burning system they can devise to generate electicity from steam. They do not currently have a car-borne system, but are in consultation with car companies to bring this about. The biggest advantage of this technology is the fact that it can use any liquid or gaseous fuel available, from diesel to hydrogen, with only storage of the fuel limiting the range of types and performance. This means that it can be introduced with existing infrastructures.
The immediate future could see the introduction of clean-burn steam power in cars, a shift to cheaper bio-fuels, made available in ordinary petrol stations, and the gradual introduction of hydrogen cell vehicles as the infrastructure adapts to accomodate them and the technology reaches a viable state. With sufficient incentives to the industry, such as the announcement of a future, outright ban on the sale or use of the current dirty technologies, all vehicles on the road could be ultra-low emission technology within ten years.
With air transport, the issue is more problematic. The UK levies a tax on air passengers which, it is possible, could be split to reflect the level of pollution generated by the plane. However, newer planes are usually less polluting and the technology to burn anything other than fossil-derived aviation fuel in jets is not yet on the horizon. It may be chemically possible to derive a suitable fuel from, say, wood alcohol, and so have carbon-neutral fuels, but the level of consumption may make such a shift hard to achieve. Until studies are done, or brought to my attention, I know of no way to solve the problems of air transport with direct technological enhancements.
On the other hand, the success of SpaceShip One in winning the X Prize, and the subsequent development of space flights for the public, suggests that sub-orbital international passenger flights might not be that far off. The technology used to achieve the feat (rubber burned in nitrous oxide) is not exactly clean, but may be compared favourably with a long-haul executive passenger jet, for example. Bulk carriers, of course, are far more efficient. I look forward to a time in the not too distant future when executives use a system descended from SpaceShip One (probably with powered flight at the end for added safety) to travel the world, leaving jets to the economy class passengers.
There is, of course, an added incentive to move away from fossil fuels for transport. In 50 years time, or less, we won't have any oil left. Some of the big oil companies are facing up to this inevitability, and looking to move into artificial fuels. Others, however, continue to throw money at organisations that oppose any kind of action to combat climate change, more concerned with protecting their entrenched business interests than meeting the reality of the situation rationally.
These are the policies that the UK government should be concentrating on with regard to transport:
Thank you for your interest.
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by Simon Oliver
