There seems to be only one thing that is certain in the world of energy policy and that is that costs will rise annually above and beyond anything that inflation can currently throw at us. Beyond that, smoke screens & confusion seem to reign. Take the recent news for example…
It’s reported today that the governments current favoured gas powered path to the future will actually cost us more than greener alternatives. According to the Guardian reporting today on findings of the Committee on Climate Change (one of the governments own advisory bodies) “Household energy bills will be about £600 higher per year in the coming decades if the UK relies increasingly on gas“. This in comparison to “bills would only be £100 higher than today’s average dual fuel bill of about £1,300, if the country concentrated on renewable power generation, such as wind power.“. Hhmmmm, something doesn’t add up.
What makes us think that gas can sustain us into the future? Well that brings us to fracking. Fracking is currently an emotive subject, with a recent governmental green light to allow further exploration following a couple of earth-quakes caused by its exploratory application in the north of England, what exactly does it mean? Well it relates to the technique of liberating flammable gases from inshore rock using water pumped under high pressure. The Department for the Environment and Climate Change website has some interesting further reading for the interested. In short, we’re not sure how much gas fracking may yield, so to base an energy policy on it is somewhat hopeful.
Seems to me energy self-sufficiency is the only path we have to any kind of individual certainty.
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