Mind the (energy) gap

Booker's Sunday piece set out the looming problems of our energy shortfall. "After years of dereliction, when only a crash programme of measures could keep our lights on and our economy functioning, our policy has become so skewed by blinkered environmentalism and diktats from the EU that we are fast heading for the worst of all worlds - a near-total dependence on foreign sources of energy which will not only be astronomically expensive but which can in no way be guaranteed to supply all the electricity we need." Some scares are real.

Philip Stott suggests some policies.

First, there must be no politically opportunistic windfall taxes or Government scams using emission-trading scheme permits. At this desperate time, it is vital not to do anything that might increase costs, and thus prices, further. Profits are vital for urgent investment into new supply infrastructure;

Secondly, the Government must move urgently to increase our ability to store natural gas from the current paltry 13 days to figures more in line with Germany (99 days) and France (122 days). We also need to restructure our terminals so that extra deliveries of liquefied natural gas (LNG) can be more easily accommodated;

Belatedly more gas storage facilities are on the horizon. Portland Gas has planning approval for a gas storage facility, while Petronas and Encore Oil have identified a large possible facility. The government seems to have been content to leave this strategic requirement to the market. Companies are responding, but later than would have been ideal.

Thirdly, we must ignore the increasingly irrelevant ‘green’ protests, and move swiftly to build new coal-fired plant like the two now planned for Kingsnorth near Rochester in Kent. ‘Green’ self-indulgence has had its day in the sun; it is now too dangerous for us to tolerate it with just a benign shrug;

This is key. He explains elsewhere how plentiful coal is. The UK still has more than 100 years of reserves. We need strategic action to reduce our reliance on volatile areas like Nigeria and the Middle East, and that cold-eyed thug Putin.

Fourthly, we must solve urgently the impasse with Électricité de France (EDF) over British Energy, and make a timely start on the programme for the next generation of nuclear power stations, but choosing one standard system for the whole country;

Fifthly, ministers must come clean on wind energy, admitting publicly the serious limitations and high costs involved for the consumer, especially with regards to the prohibitive problems of dealing with this intermittent source of energy on an aged grid, which will require a massive upgrading;

Sixthly, again ‘green’ waffle must be put aside, and the long-planned Severn Tidal Barrage should be embraced with Brunellian panache; and,

Finally, but most importantly, the Government must place energy right at the top of the political agenda, and establish a settled energy policy within which the utilities and businesses can feel confident about the commercial environment within which they are planning for the - for our - future.

This means not trying to smuggle out an energy policy bit by bit, so as not to frighten us. It means doing what government should do, and explaining openly what is needed.

It's questionable if we have global warming at all. If we do, is it caused by mankind's production of carbon dioxide? Highly unlikely. We can't "fight climate change". Every hubristic EU bigwig who says that, every hubristic Miliband who claims that, is talking nonsense. They need a lesson from King Canute. But all our political parties espouse greenery. So there is no political leadership about the energy gap. It is being left to commentators to raise public concern, which is a pretty fragile way to look upon one of our main challenges of the next decade.