Solving the Energy Crisis is a Matter of Life and Death
One of the many lessons of the second world war was that as an island we are uniquely vulnerable to becoming cut off from Europe and the wider world, in the event of a global conflict. That is the first and most important reason why we should aim to be energy self-sufficient in the 21st Century.
However, domestic energy is not just about defence. Cheap, reliable energy forms the bedrock of our modern life. It is vital for all of our modern industry as well as agriculture and manufacturing.
Importing energy exacerbates our trade deficit, which lowers the value of our currency, causing inflation which raises interest rates for all of us.
The best way for us to reach energy self sufficiency is through Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Shale Gas. SMRs are a tried and tested technology which has been used on our submarines for more than 6 decades. The most famous British company of all, Rolls Royce, is developing this technology in Derbyshire, but this government is not doing nearly enough to roll out the use of SMRs nationwide, supporting Rolls Royce with less than one third of one billion pounds.
Natural Gas emits 30% less CO2 than oil and 50% less than coal. However when it is liquified and shipped here from the USA or Qatar the total CO2 footprint for Liquified Natural Gas is 10 times more than our own domestic natural gas. That is why extracting shale gas in the UK makes much more sense than importing from abroad. It is better for the environment, it will generate tax revenues for our public services and it will provide us with a more resilient source of energy. However this government prefers to import gas because it looks better for their green credentials if the CO2 is not counted as British CO2.
Whilst Solar Panels are a great idea on top of houses or car parks, covering acres of agricultural land with solar farms will reduce our food supply and will cost us billions laying new cables to connect the supply with demand.
Wind turbines are even less reliable than solar, they kill thousands of birds and whales every year and they have the same issues as solar when trying to connect the supply with demand. The Norwich to Tilbury cabling alone, designed to connect North Sea wind farms with London, is going to cost an estimated £7.5 billion. Nationally the upgrades to the grid required to connect renewables with urban centres are projected to cost £58 billion.
Instead we need to use Shale Gas to heat our homes and SMRs to generate electricity. SMRs don’t have the same planning issues as traditional nuclear because their land footprint is so much smaller, and because the parts are manufactured en masse the cost of an SMR is 5 times less per GWh than traditional nuclear.
Happily, SMRs offer a zero carbon solution that is cheaper than wind or solar, more reliable and removes our dependency on foreign countries for energy.