You rarely hear ministers talking about renewable energy. And consider You rarely hear politicians in the government seriously discuss energy conservation issues. For the cleanest and most environmentally friendly energy, you may have energy that you don’t need to use.
Flexible
Considering that the Green Homes Grant is so important, it’s not surprising that government ministers don’t talk about it. Complete disaster. But, in fact, this silence predates Rishi Sunak’s special chaos.
Talk about-and take action-the new nuclear energy has swallowed up the space where renewable energy and protection should exist.
As in an excellent study by the University of Sussex last year, this is true globally ShowsIn academic terms, there is a path dependence, that is, renewable energy and nuclear energy squeeze out each other.
In the UK, the most painful manifestation is the failure to find the most obvious and productive path for renewable energy and community energy.
although promise -And from Environmental Audit Committee, The net-zero strategy does not include an action plan for the key means of spreading prosperity across the country, as well as helping to ensure a resilient, decentralized energy system and the basic drive for people to directly participate in the net-zero.
Fission
Second, nuclear power projects are too slow. This is a fatal argument, and nuclear supporters have no answer to it.
Anyone can imagine that the fastest time for new nuclear energy to come online is more than ten years.This is the best case: the people of Finland hope that their new factory in Olkiluoto can Come online soon. The original completion date is 2009.
Alison McFarlane, Dean of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and former Chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Tell Al Jazeera: “I live in a pragmatic, realistic world.
“And I don’t think that nuclear power will have a significant impact on reducing carbon emissions for at least the next 10 or 20 years, because we cannot build new factories fast enough.”
And these two decades are exactly when we have to cut emissions, if we want “Keep 1.5 alive”, As the CPO26 climate negotiations started.
uncertain
However, even before the debate last week, I knew that there would be supporters of nuclear fission.
When the British Minister of Energy, Clean Growth and Climate Change Greg Hands (Greg Hands) Said at a meeting of the Nuclear Industry Association This month, the government is “seeking integration.” Strange term-reminiscent of the story of the Holy Grail.
Now I am very keen on integration. This is what all life on earth depends on. It always has. It has always been there, and it will always be there-in any meaningful time frame. Of course, I’m talking about the sun, which operates on a scale far beyond anything we humans can produce.
Obviously, it is the sun that drives the solar energy. It also ultimately drives wind power.
There is a clear similarity with carbon capture and storage: it is proposed to create very expensive and uncertain engineering projects to do what nature does for us for free.
bulldozer
Just as we need to keep coal in the hole, gas in the ground, and oil in the sphere, we need to rely on the fission of the sun to continue to power our planet, just as it has always used solar and wind energy.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that, in addition to all the money that the existing strong vested interest groups can make, people’s enthusiasm for nuclear power is so high. economist Inadvertently Very good summary A leader who supports small nuclear reactors recently stated that “this makes it easier to deal with climate change.”
Nuclear power relies on the illusion that we can continue to adopt the economic model we have now-by changing technology to transcend the boundaries of the earth in many ways, not just destroy the climate. we can not.
You cannot grow infinitely on a finite planet. We need an energy system that works with the earth, not try to overthrow it.
This author
Natalie Bennett is a member of the House of Lords and a member of the Green Party.
