Rob Berridge has his say on the state of the UK’s energy future.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve written about our energy management, our wastage of it, and our understanding of how to design and use it efficiently.
The latest conflict in Ukraine has plunged the UK into a fuel crisis that in my opinion was utterly avoidable. Our Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss, who strikes me as blending in well with what we are now so used to within our government’s spokespeople, has stated that “we” will have to bear the hardship of fuel price rises but it’s nothing in comparison to what the people of Ukraine are dealing with!
It’s a statement that surely even a novice salesperson wouldn’t attempt to make in an effort to appease their way out of historical energy security failures and disastrous policy decisions in this field.
Well please allow me to share what many people are thinking and feeling, Liz. You say that “we” will have to shoulder the pain in this but no, you and most of your colleagues will feel absolutely no pain whatsoever during this as your second homes and expenses will be paid for by us! We will shoulder the pain of both your energy usage bills and our own, except that many – if not most – of us will go hungry and cold! We are the ones keeping you warm, and keeping your lights on.
A succession of governments has continually made poor energy security decisions that never seem to have the national best interest at heart. Collectively, you have all allowed our nuclear, gas and electrical production to fall into mismanagement, with our storage having also been reduced to less than a week by selling off the plant space (most other European countries have at least one month of storage) – which leaves us with poorer purchasing power. Why didn’t anyone stop to think about our national energy future in case of conflict, regardless of fuel type? It’s not rocket science to prepare for the worst but hope for the best.
This clearly is my opinion on the matter but I have researched my claims and I’m convinced all have provable merit. A government’s first and most important responsibility is to the safety and wellbeing of its own citizens. Countries like France, which used foresight and tough decisions to ensure national security in energy production, are now laughing at us – whilst also giggling all the way to the bank. They are still looking at a more pleasant 15p per kWh, whilst we are looking down the barrel of 30 to 40p per kWh, with a large percentage of that energy coming across the channel from them. They have also announced a price freeze, limited electrical rises to 4%, and gas prices to 12.6%! We are looking at rocketing percentages that are already stratospheric with, as yet, zero policy decision that protects our public. This will result in people in our own country dying.
My thoughts and concerns are always with the innocent people of the world; I share their fears, their love for each other. Indeed, I have been lucky enough to have travelled extensively and can honestly state that everyone wants the same things; peace, simple wealth, food in their mouths and a roof over their heads.
My job and career choice is to ensure the best efficiency of heating design and installation, regardless of fuel type. The government’s is to ensure our country can produce its own energy that both supports citizens and allows us to enter world energy markets as suppliers, not chicks in our cold nests that beg for scraps at massively inflated prices.
Please stop this ‘we’re all in it together’ nonsense, the rhetoric is degrading and patronising to all. Get onto the task of supplying cheap energy; get onto the task of making UK homes more efficient; get onto the task of getting the job done and not listening to industry lobbyists and scaremongers. Do what we pay you to do… ensure our national security in all areas.
We can all agree that we have to eventually stop burning stuff in order to supply our energy needs but that engineering dream is still, realistically, decades away. We in the UK have many options and a plentiful supply of energy-rich materials which, in my opinion, should be exploited in the short term to ensure the wellbeing of us all. Once again, our already debt-ridden public are the losers and this disastrous conflict has exposed our government’s energy incompetence and clear lack of foresight.
