A roadmap to a low carbon Britain

By Keir StittNuclear

The past ten days has seen two important announcements on the journey to a low carbon economy. Two Thursdays ago the government announced significant subsidies to get electric vehicles onto Britain’s roads and more significantly to put the required infrastructure in place. Then, last Wednesday was a milestone in the construction of Britain’s new generation of nuclear reactors, with the announcement of the shortlist of proposed sites along with a timeline and outline of the process under the Planning Act.

Like anyone on the Left I can easily predict the comments this post is going to get with relation to electric vehicles. First the right will want to tell the old Sinclair C5 jokes, then they will probably spread lies and rumour about safety. Telling us that Britain’s electricity grid will fall to pieces is an effective scaremongering tactic and has the double impact of undermining confidence in green technologies while giving the impression that our national infrastructure is somehow crumbling (like the railways, the NHS, our education system, our borders…). In any case they will want to paint the announcement as a gimmick that has no answers for the British economy during a recession.

What the right don’t tell you is that Britain is the world leader in electric commercial vehicles. Neither do they tell you that Britain’s geography as a small island with dense population centres makes it the ideal market for electric vehicles. To attack infrastructure is akin to preventing widespread use of electric ovens and power showers in the 60’s and 70’s because the electricity network couldn’t handle them back then either, until the demand arrived.

Whether the energy paradigm of the future will be batteries, hydrogen or a third technology is anybody’s guess. It’s quite clear, however, that any such technology will put unique demands upon our energy infrastructure. Also key to our move to a low carbon economy is a move to micro-generation and distributed generation. These are two sides to the same problem, and the solution is investment in smart electricity grids, virtual power plants and interestingly vehicle-to-grid technology where during peak demand vehicles attached to the grid actually give power to the grid from the batteries rather then recharging themselves from the grid.

Electric vehicles are becoming a big hit in the commercial sector because they meet their customers’ needs with much lower running costs then their fossil fuel cousins. While they also meet most consumers’ needs, it’s understandable that people would be reluctant to purchase a vehicle with a 150 mile range, even if the vast majority of their journeys are less than 50 Miles. In any case the infrastructure for electric vehicles marries closely with that for hydrogen technology and as well for micro-generation.

Given that I’m an advocate of micro-generation and distributed generation, you may ask why I promote nuclear as a part of the mix. The answer is that as long as people live in cities and unless we return to the style of living that our ancestors enjoyed until the early 19th century, we shall always require a significant base load. So far as we can see there will only be 5 technologies for Britain’s base load requirements over the foreseeable future: gas, coal, oil, biomass and nuclear fission. Holding out for other technologies, however promising they may look, is being irresponsible with our energy security. Just as Oil has been the source of too many wars and conflicts during the 20th century, we have already seen the early signs that Gas will in the 21st century. Clean coal is a promising technology that has already been demonstrated and holds the potential to generate significant base load with low carbon emissions. Watch out for emissions of mercury, thorium-232 and uranium-238 which are still present after the scrubbing process. It’s for this reason that I would always feel safer living next door to a nuclear plant then a coal plant.

Iran and North Korea are sadly reminders that the dangers on nuclear proliferation haven’t gone away. And every base load technology has its risks to human health, the environment and to peace. We’re already seeing the impact Biomass is having on food supplies in the developing world. However, nuclear fission is the only technology that isn’t dependent upon volatile governments and it’s the only technology where the wastes are entirely controlled.

Britain should have bitten the bullet and started planning new nuclear capacity in the 90’s. I’m of the opinion that the government has dragged its heels for too long, but the announcements of the past week have to be congratulated.

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