51
Oct
2024
The free online magazine for news and views from
Cradley, Storridge & Mathon Herefordshire
Article no. 1
Part 4. Our energy future. what next?
We are on the cusp of a very uncertain future. There are problems with timescales, politics and technology. One thing is certain,
we can’t carry on blithely as we are.
To summarise.
(1) Depletion. Fossil fuels (hydrocarbons) are a fixed reserve, at some point they will be used up. We can’t just carry on burning
them, we need them for other things for which there are no substitutes. (Manufacture of textiles, pharmaceuticals, plastics,
metals, cement, tarmac, explosives to name a few.)
Our own UK reserves are almost depleted, very soon we will be completely dependent on foreign imports.
All this means the cost of hydrocarbons will go through the roof. There’s no escaping these facts. The big unknown is the timescale but things could happen very suddenly
if there are political shennanigans in key production areas in the world.
2) Pollution. The extraction, refining and burning of fossil fuels is shortening all our lives.
Land where fuels have been extracted may be permanently damaged and a source of pollution for many years afterwards.
Air pollution.
The combustion products from burning fossil fuels.cause many lung and heart diseases
It’s becoming increasingly obvious that many of the mental health problems our children suffer from are related to air pollution from fossil fuels, This has been
determined statistically, the actual causes are only now being understood.
Waste/end products
The end products and unwanted components from processing fossil fuels are invariably toxic and hard to dispose of safely. They will be with us forever.
(3) Climate.
The prophesied changes to climate seem to be materialising sooner than expected with record breaking weather events occurring frequently.
The main problem is that our energy future will have to be entirely electric and “renewable”. Our electricity supply is structured around
large fossil fuel power stations close to coal fields and ports. It’s too small to meet the additional load of replacing gas and Electric
Vehicles. The future electricity grid will have to be more widespread and diverse to accommodate the new power sources. (NIMBYs
beware.)
The redeeming feature is that renewable primary energy come for free. However making the transition is going to be hugely expensive
which will be reflected in our energy bills. (As regards expense, we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet). The cost has to be distributed over as long a
period as possible to minimise the pain. How long this period will be is unknowable but recent events point to possible catastrophe. It’s
very important meanwhile for us all to make energy efficiencies to save money if nothing else. In the short to medium term energy
costs can only rise.
Meanwhile work out what you would due in a power cut bearing in mind most gas appliances won’t work either.
Harold Armitage