By Christopher Booker
Daily Mail
Power-cut Britain, to anyone who remembers it, will seem utterly antediluvian. It predated home computers and mobile phones, and colour televisions were only then beginning to appear. Those who were young in the early Seventies will remember poring over their homework by candlelight, and there was a clear division between people who liked the reek of paraffin lamps and people who didn’t. Then, along with the three-day week and crippling industrial disputes, powercut Britain disappeared into the past, never to return. That is, until now. Once again we are being warned that within a few years this country could be facing its worst wave of power blackouts since those far-off days more than three decades ago - and that even the Government itself now admits these might be inevitable. For seven years it has been glaringly obvious to energy experts that Britain will soon be facing a colossal energy gap, as the ageing power stations which currently supply 40 percent of our electricity are forced to close down. Eight of our nine nuclear power plants are coming to the end of their life. And half of our coal and oil-fired power stations are rapidly running out of the hours they are allowed to keep running under the EU’s Large Combustion Plants directive, designed to stop the pollution blamed for acid rain. By 2015, or even earlier, we shall thus begin to lose two-fifths of our present electricity supply, and the question energy experts are asking is: how do we propose to fill this yawning gap?
Britain faces a colossal energy gap
The seriousness of this cannot be overestimated. Cosy images of candlelit Britain in the Seventies are all very well, but since then we have been through a revolution which makes our society almost wholly dependent on computers. It is no longer just our lights, cookers, fridges and televisions for which we rely on electricity, but pretty well our entire working lives, from offices, banks, petrol pumps and supermarket tills to traffic lights, railway signals and virtually all our transport system. The tragedy is that for seven years, politicians of all parties have refused to face up to Britain’s fast-looming energy gap because they have all been bewitched by the great ‘green dream’, that we could somehow save the planet by generating much of our electricity from ‘renewables’, such as building thousands more wind turbines. In reality this is just makebelieve. The 2,300 turbines so far built in Britain supply barely 1 per cent of our power, less than a single medium-sized conventional power station. The Government talks about spending £100 billion on building 10,000 more windmills to meet our EU target that within ten years we must generate 32 per cent of our electricity from
‘renewables’. But, first, there is not the remotest chance that we could build three turbines a day between now and 2020. And, second, even if there were, they would do virtually nothing to close our energy gap, not least because we would need to build a dozen or more conventional power stations just to provide back-up for when the wind is not blowing. Almost the only politician who realised this was John Hutton, the former energy minister, who last year reversed Government policy by announcing that we needed at least a dozen new nuclear and coal-fired power stations to fill the gap.
As he starkly declared to the 2008 Labour conference: ‘No coal and no nuclear means no power, no future.’ Two weeks later, however, Hutton was moved to another department, and Britain’s energy policy was handed over to Ed Miliband, a ‘green’ zealot in charge of a new ministry ominously named the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC). Mr Miliband still makes noises about allowing the French and German companies which now dominate our electricity supply industry to build a new generation of nuclear power plants. But under EU rules they cannot, unlike the wind industry, expect any subsidies, and the chances that any new nuclear plants could be built before 2020 are virtually non-existent.
Wind turbines won’t solve the problem
As for new coal-fired power stations, he has decreed that these cannot be built without socalled ‘carbon capture’, piping off their CO2 to bury it in holes in the ground.
Not only would this double the cost of the electricity, but the technology to do it hasn’t even been developed yet. In other words, Miliband is so obsessed with the need to halt ‘climate change’ that his concern with the ‘energy’ half of his brief - keeping Britain’s lights on - so obviously takes second place that it is scarcely evident at all.
This was glaringly obvious from his recent policy statement on making the ‘transition to a low-carbon economy’: hundreds of pages about how we are going to build windmills and achieve imaginary cuts in our CO2 emissions, but notably short on any practical suggestions as to how we are going to keep our economy running. From a statement put out by Mr Miliband’s ministry this week, it has become even more obvious that the one thing they hope will save Britain’s electricity supplies from disaster is a scramble to build dozens more gas-fired power stations - just when our own North Sea gas reserves are fast running out. This means we shall be looking to gas to provide anything up to 80 per cent of our electricity, and the gas will be largely imported from politically unreliable countries such as Russia and Algeria at a time when world gas prices are likely to be soaring. It is exactly the disastrous scenario which Mr Hutton warned against last year. Even if, by this extremely risky gamble, we might manage to close the energy gap now fast approaching us, it could only mean a further massive hike in electricity prices, driving millions more into ‘fuel poverty’.
Not for nothing is Mr Miliband also proposing that we should spend £7 billion on fitting every home in the country with what are called ‘smart meters’. These are two-way devices, connected electronically to our supply company, which would not only allow us to see how much electricity we ourselves are using but would enable the firms to ‘manage demand’ by controlling how much power we receive.
A massive price hike is inevitable
If the power cuts come, this ‘Big Brother in the cupboard’ would allow the firms to ration our electricity use. And it is revealing that instead of looking to that £7 billion to be spent on two or three new nuclear power stations, the Government prefers a system which would allow the misery of electricity cuts to be spread around in a ‘managed’ fashion. It is ironic that this week’s stories about the Government admitting that we face the possibility of blackouts should have originated with the Tory Party, whose own energy policy has long been indistinguishable from the Government’s - windmills, ‘carbon capture’, ‘smart meters’ and all. The truth is that, if David Cameron comes to power in nine months’ time, there will be no bigger headache confronting him than how to avoid precisely the disaster which his spokesman was yesterday warning about. If there is one issue to which he and his colleagues should now be giving their fullest attention it is how to keep Britain’s lights on without prices going through the roof. And that will mean abandoning a lot of that childish Milibandian make-believe which now threatens us with as great a crisis as any our politicians have ever landed us with.
142 Responses
Thursday, 7. July 2011
buy@viagra.online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Need cheap generic VIAGRA?…
Thursday, 21. July 2011
buy@generic.LEVITRA” rel=”nofollow”>……
Need cheap generic LEVITRA?…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Buy@Discount.Coral.Calcium” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyit now…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Purchase@Cheap.Coral.Calcium” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buynow it…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Get@Coral.Calcium.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric drugs…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Buy@Abana.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buynow it…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Order@Abana.Online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buywithout prescription…
Friday, 29. July 2011
Get@Abana.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyit now…
Saturday, 30. July 2011
Buy@Discount.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buynow it…
Sunday, 31. July 2011
Buy@Generic.Acai.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buygeneric drugs…
Monday, 1. August 2011
Buy@Coral.Calcium.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric meds…
Monday, 1. August 2011
Order@Coral.Calcium.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric pills…
Monday, 1. August 2011
Cheap@Abana.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription…
Monday, 1. August 2011
Order@Cheap.Abilify” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription…
Wednesday, 3. August 2011
Buy@Generic.Abilify.5mg.10mg.15mg.20mg.30mg” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric meds…
Wednesday, 3. August 2011
Buy@Acai.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buywithout prescription…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Order@Cheap.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Order@Discount.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buynow…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Order@Discount.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Order@Discount.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buywithout prescription…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Purchase@Acai.Online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buynow…
Thursday, 4. August 2011
Order@Generic.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription…
Friday, 5. August 2011
Order@Cheap.Energy.Boost” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buynow it…
Friday, 5. August 2011
Buy@Accupril.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric meds…
Friday, 5. August 2011
Order@Discount.Accupril” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs…
Saturday, 6. August 2011
Order@Accutane.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buynow it…
Saturday, 6. August 2011
Buy@Accutane.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs…
Monday, 8. August 2011
Buy@Aciphex.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric meds…
Tuesday, 9. August 2011
Buy@Acomplia.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buynow it…
Tuesday, 9. August 2011
Order@Cheap.Acomplia” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyno prescription…
Wednesday, 10. August 2011
Purchase@Generic.Actonel” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric meds…
Wednesday, 10. August 2011
Cheap@Generic.Actonel” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buywithout prescription xiu…
Wednesday, 10. August 2011
Cheap@Actonel.35mg” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now oil…
Wednesday, 10. August 2011
Buy@Actonel.35mg” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric drugs lzt…
Thursday, 11. August 2011
Cheap@Actoplus.Met.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric meds qmo…
Thursday, 11. August 2011
Buy@Actos.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs zfk…
Thursday, 11. August 2011
Buy@Generic.Actos” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric drugs eet…
Thursday, 11. August 2011
Buy@Generic.Actos.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric drugs krg…
Thursday, 11. August 2011
Order@Actos.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric pills zdg…
Friday, 12. August 2011
Order@Adalat.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric meds qhr…
Friday, 12. August 2011
Purchase@Adalat.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyno prescription luw…
Saturday, 13. August 2011
Purchase@Abilify.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric meds abx…
Sunday, 14. August 2011
Purchase@Generic.Abilify.5mg.10mg.15mg.20mg.30mg” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buywithout prescription yen…
Sunday, 14. August 2011
Cheap@Generic.Abilify.5mg.10mg.15mg.20mg.30mg” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buywithout prescription yyn…
Sunday, 14. August 2011
Buy@Acai.Online” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buydrugs without prescription vrg…
Sunday, 14. August 2011
Order@Generic.Acai” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription wkp…
Monday, 15. August 2011
Cheap@Acai.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buydrugs without prescription jlg…
Monday, 15. August 2011
Cheap@Generic.Acai.500mg” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription tao…
Monday, 15. August 2011
Buy@Discount.Energy.Boost” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs itj…
Monday, 15. August 2011
Order@Energy.Boost.Online” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs axm…
Tuesday, 16. August 2011
Get@Energy.Boost.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription jui…
Wednesday, 17. August 2011
Buy@Discount.Accutane” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs nih…
Wednesday, 17. August 2011
Purchase@Discount.Accutane” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs mby…
Wednesday, 17. August 2011
Buy@Generic.Accutane” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buygeneric meds svb…
Wednesday, 17. August 2011
Buy@Accutane.10mg.20mg” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buynow it zdg…
Friday, 19. August 2011
Cheap@Aciphex.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now sge…
Friday, 19. August 2011
Purchase@Generic.Aciphex.20mg” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buywithout prescription ccw…
Monday, 22. August 2011
Cheap@Actonel.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription faj…
Monday, 22. August 2011
Get@Actonel.Online” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buygeneric drugs ajd…
Monday, 22. August 2011
Order@Actonel.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyno prescription jwi…
Tuesday, 23. August 2011
Order@Cheap.Advair” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buygeneric drugs vbr…
Tuesday, 23. August 2011
Buy@Generic.Advair” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs ouw…
Tuesday, 23. August 2011
Buy@Advair.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric drugs hwi…
Tuesday, 23. August 2011
Order@Generic.Advair” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription hak…
Wednesday, 24. August 2011
Order@Advair.Without.Prescription” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buyit now ojb…
Wednesday, 24. August 2011
Cheap@Generic.Advair” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buydrugs without prescription xab…
Thursday, 25. August 2011
Order@Discount.Albenza” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buynow it lmg…
Thursday, 25. August 2011
Purchase@Cheap.Albenza” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buyit now knc…
Thursday, 25. August 2011
Purchase@Discount.Albenza” rel=”nofollow”>……
Buynow fjl…
Saturday, 27. August 2011
aloe@vera.juice.benefits.best” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric meds…
Sunday, 28. August 2011
abilify@and.sleep.issues” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription…
Sunday, 28. August 2011
accutane@verdict.buy” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buydrugs without prescription…
Sunday, 28. August 2011
adalat@asus.buy” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buydrugs without prescription…
Monday, 29. August 2011
allopurinol@atrial.fibrillation” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Buygeneric pills…
Monday, 29. August 2011
aloe@vera.juice.for.sale” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyit now…
Monday, 29. August 2011
side@effects.of.aricept” rel=”nofollow”>..…
Buyit now…
Monday, 17. October 2011
hiv research being conducted in usa…
Buy_generic pills…
Monday, 17. October 2011
norvasc and theophylline…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Tuesday, 18. October 2011
c-section scar pain symptoms pregnancy…
Buy_generic drugs…
Tuesday, 18. October 2011
over the counter birth control…
Buy_generic meds…
Wednesday, 19. October 2011
advair and contraindications…
Buy_generic meds…
Wednesday, 19. October 2011
canine heat cycles…
Buy_without prescription…
Thursday, 20. October 2011
urinary tract infection canine…
Buy_generic pills…
Thursday, 20. October 2011
apo amitriptyline…
Buy_generic pills…
Thursday, 20. October 2011
birth control pills for pms symptoms…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Thursday, 20. October 2011
behavior symptoms of prescription drug addiction…
Buy_generic meds…
Thursday, 20. October 2011
otc proton pump inhibitors…
Buy_no prescription…
Friday, 21. October 2011
honey for diabetes…
Buy_generic meds…
Friday, 21. October 2011
gall bladder cancer surgery…
Buy_it now…
Friday, 21. October 2011
warfarin sod…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Friday, 21. October 2011
conquer online hacking tools…
Buy_generic drugs…
Friday, 21. October 2011
verapamil side effects…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Friday, 21. October 2011
symptoms of prescription drug abuse…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Saturday, 22. October 2011
rapid weight loss…
Buy_generic drugs…
Saturday, 22. October 2011
cheap travel nebulizer…
Buy_generic drugs…
Saturday, 22. October 2011
how strength training effects osteoporosis…
Buy_generic drugs…
Sunday, 23. October 2011
snort herbal ecstacy…
Buy_generic pills…
Tuesday, 25. October 2011
death rate of hiv…
Buy_it now…
Wednesday, 26. October 2011
working and twin pregnancy…
Buy_now it…
Thursday, 27. October 2011
trigger point injections with lidocaine…
Buy_without prescription…
Thursday, 27. October 2011
steroids and weight gain…
Buy_generic pills…
Thursday, 27. October 2011
how to embed pictures ms office…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Thursday, 27. October 2011
lidocaine injectable…
Buy_it now…
Friday, 28. October 2011
adhd cant take stimulants adult…
Buy_it now…
Friday, 28. October 2011
adult survivors of childhood cancer…
Buy_generic pills…
Friday, 28. October 2011
dhea treatment of depression…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Saturday, 29. October 2011
singapore secure psychiatric forensic unit…
Buy_no prescription…
Saturday, 29. October 2011
dehli meats during pregnancy…
Buy_now it…
Saturday, 29. October 2011
mini insulin fridge…
Buy_generic drugs…
Saturday, 29. October 2011
pregnancy issues with men…
Buy_no prescription…
Sunday, 30. October 2011
nicotrol inhaler buy free sample oregon…
Buy_now…
Sunday, 30. October 2011
avelox treats for bacteria…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Sunday, 30. October 2011
imodium during pregnancy…
Buy_generic meds…
Sunday, 30. October 2011
drug treatment for bipolar disorder…
Buy_generic pills…
Sunday, 30. October 2011
diabetes popcorn…
Buy_generic pills…
Monday, 31. October 2011
allergy blood testing…
Buy_it now…
Monday, 31. October 2011
atlanta zyprexa lawyers…
Buy_generic drugs…
Monday, 31. October 2011
weight loss pa…
Buy_no prescription…
Thursday, 3. November 2011
sandwich elisa for hepatitis b…
Buy_generic meds…
Friday, 4. November 2011
colon cancer lymph node…
Buy_without prescription…
Friday, 4. November 2011
resume clinical sas programmer…
Buy_generic meds…
Friday, 4. November 2011
cipro for sinus infection…
Buy_generic meds…
Saturday, 5. November 2011
build muscle mass diet…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Saturday, 5. November 2011
breast cancer awareness wristband…
Buy_generic meds…
Sunday, 6. November 2011
healing lithium water in utah…
Buy_no prescription…
Monday, 7. November 2011
social skills training negative symptoms schizophrenia…
Buy_generic meds…
Tuesday, 8. November 2011
seed implant for prostate cancer…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Wednesday, 9. November 2011
free diabetes logbooks to print…
Buy_generic drugs…
Wednesday, 9. November 2011
drug testing passing short notice…
Buy_generic meds…
Thursday, 10. November 2011
overweight employee abuse…
Buy_generic drugs…
Thursday, 10. November 2011
adult male wheezing new onset…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Thursday, 10. November 2011
hiv quality of life survey tools…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Thursday, 10. November 2011
liquid tylenol and dogs…
Buy_without prescription…
Saturday, 12. November 2011
kim kardashian weight gain…
Buy_now…
Saturday, 12. November 2011
breast cancer site is having trouble…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Tuesday, 15. November 2011
boost metabolism foods…
Buy_now…
Tuesday, 15. November 2011
allergy testing and injections…
Buy_without prescription…
Wednesday, 16. November 2011
esophagus 2009 jelsoft enterprises ltd…
Buy_now it…
Wednesday, 16. November 2011
prozac overdose and tardive dyskinesia…
Buy_generic meds…
Wednesday, 16. November 2011
substitute for diovan hct…
Buy_now…
Thursday, 17. November 2011
children during the depression…
Buy_drugs without prescription…
Sunday, 11. December 2011
Download@alternative.Rock” rel=”nofollow”>.…
Search rock UK Charts…