Energy & Net Zero 

Following on from his initial manifesto post, Alastair MacMillan moves on to energy policy:

At present, UK energy policy hangs round the Climate Change and Net Zero Acts that are predicated on one view of why the climate has shown signs of warming over the last forty years. There are other very valid scientific views that are completely ignored, such as that the warming we have seen is due to a mix of high levels of solar activity and changes in the earths orbit round the sun.    It is also the case that we do far more measuring than we ever used to, because we can, and also that we appear quick to forget that climate changes continuously, and there have been very warm and very cold periods in the recent and distant past when levels of CO2 were at similar levels or considerably higher or lower than the present day. The sun supplies all our energy either directly during daylight or via energy stored in the earth’s fossil fuel battery. Global warming would appear to be far more in tune with the solar activity than carbon dioxide levels and as it is carbon dioxide levels follow temperature rather than lead it which makes a complete mockery of the whole net zero hypothesis. It also can’t be denied that at 443ppm, CO2 levels are extremely low when taken over geological time. It is also rather ironic that with the slight increase in CO2 we have seen a corresponding extra greening of the planet, and therefore the release of CO2 locked up in fossil fuels laid down millions of years ago is actually having the effect of making the planet more verdant rather than less.

Do you remember the so called Millenium Bug? All our computer systems were going to crash, cash machines would not work and life would be severely disrupted as we moved from the year 1999 to 2000. As it turned out it was a damp squib, as many of us realised in the years running up to it. But that did not stop the government spending enormous amounts of money “scaring us witless”. One of our software providers even stopped supplying the accountancy package that we used, because they could not guarantee that it would work after 1999. In fact it worked perfectly without any issue, but by then it was too late!

The Climate Change and Net Zero Acts are the equivalent of the Millenium Bug on steroids, having the effect of dictating a very restrictive and economically very damaging policy mix for the UK based on a dubious hypothesis. The easy bits have been done and much CO2 intensive industry has been driven overseas. We are about to discover the full and painful consequences of this lunacy. These Acts and all of the supporting legislation need to be repealed as soon as possible before they damage economic development any further. Removing all end dates for the internal combustion engine, gas boilers, wood burning stoves etc, I would stop subsidising in any way all forms of renewable energy. I would ban the use of agricultural land for solar farms and also stop onshore wind. I would ease the requirement for planning permission for solar panels on industrial roofs and on land beside roads, at airports and other non agricultural spaces. The problem with renewable generation is that wind in particular is very unreliable and not at all environmentally friendly when it comes to the urbanising of, in many cases, the wildest areas of our land, the effects on bird and bat life and the blight of the pylons and power lines required to transmit the power.

Whilst I am extremely sceptical about the effects of CO2 on the climate, I am the first to agree that fossil fuels are both dirty and finite and should only be used where they are the best option.   Using gas for heating and electricity generation is very extravagant for such a versatile fuel.   However, the best and most conservative way is to cause electricity to become so cheap that It is worthwhile for people to install electric appliances and buy electric cars. Trying to force it through law is how one ends up in technological cul-de-sacs.

Instead, whilst I would continue to encourage and provide funding for further research into fusion my main energy push is with Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Rolls Royce has been building these for 60 years and putting them in submarines, it is tried and tested technology, each one producing about 440Mw. I would push to grant RR permission to build 12 on 2 or 3 former nuclear power station sites. Each one is expected to have a life of 60 years and would be funded privately by giving each a 30 year tax free status, so no corporation tax or tax on the dividends. Provided things went to plan then we would roll out more of the RR reactors to cover the base load requirements.   To complement these I would also look to give Moltex and Terrestrial the go ahead to build a number of molten salt reactors that can be used to meet the variable load on the grid, a variant to their reactors can also be run on nuclear waste from the old traditional plants that is at present in storage. Both companies are at present building proof of concept units in Canada though Moltex is a fully UK business. The SMRs would be utilising existing transmission infrastructure thereby avoiding more pylon and wind turbine blight in our precious countryside. Generating all our power with SMRs would utilise a total area of less than 10 square miles, a tiny fraction of that utilised already by onshore wind.

Fossil fuels are precious and whilst I would continue to encourage exploration and extraction from the North Sea I think that fracking, though tempting, is, for a small densely populated country like ours, going to be much more difficult to do without consequences. There is no harm leaving it for future generations as and when they can extract it safely.

As a nation we have to be able to compete in the world, and the price of energy is at the core of that; the cost of renewable sources in particular solar is coming down and whether we legislate or not there is a gradual move toward electrification of the economy. We must however find ways to generate that electricity as cheaply as possible and nuclear is the only method that can do this on a reliable basis 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

From a strategic point of view offshore wind and an increasing amount of imported electricity via undersea cables are making us much weaker. We must generate more electricity on the UK mainland, undersea cables of all sorts are easy prey to suitably equipped aggressor submarines.

Governments have dithered over using this proven technology for almost twenty years and continue to find excuses for putting off the decision. It is essential that the nettle is now grabbed firmly and SMRs are rolled out to supply the lion’s share of our electricity requirements.

Alastair MacMillan runs White House Products Ltd, a manufacturer, distributor and exporter of hydraulic components to over 100 countries. He is a supporter of the Jobs Foundation.

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