Everywhere you look these days, everyone is on about green as if we, the little people, can save the planet from destruction by global corporations. Can we? Really?
In my New Year Address, I predicted that there would be a kick back against electric vehicles while costs rise and there is no clarity as to how the infrastructure to support a move from the internal combustion engine will be developed. And look, it comes to pass.
As for my prediction for renewables? Well, maybe not, yet, quite on the money!
Earlier this year, the National Grid asked electricity users with smart meters to limit their consumption for a couple of ours on days when demand was predicted to be high – when it was cold …. Who would have expected that?– on the promise of a small rebate on what we didn’t use.
Of course, it was a con. How did they know what you might normally use? Well, yes, the smart meter could show that between 5pm and 7pm, some people put the oven or kettle on, drew the curtains and put lights on, stuck the telly on to watch Pointless and the even more pointless news, even, heaven forbid, put the heating on which even for gas users uses some electricity.
So, having sat in the dark and cold for two hours draped in a blanket (Editor – why were you draped in MY blanket?) with no telly or radio, in expectation of a late tea, our smart meter detected we were minimal electricity users between 5pm and 7pm so next time we got a rebate of tuppence.
But what about ‘green electricity’? An advert came up on my trusty tablet for E.On, offering 100 per cent renewable electricity. Really? Does this mean that all the electricity from them comes solely from renewable sources?
No! and any electricity company who claims this are, frankly, lying.
The electricity that comes into your and our home comes from the National Grid. Everyone’s electricity comes from the National Grid unless you live off grid and generate your own. You cannot decide how that electricity is generated. It may come from our roof with its solar panels, it might come from Robin Rigg or Morecambe Bay offshore wind farms, it might come from a hydroelectric scheme, it might come from nuclear, or it might come from coal of gas fired generators or, even worse, from Drax who claim that burning millions of tonnes of wood chips is, somehow, green!
The fact is that in 2022 only 40 per cent of the electricity we generated in the UK was from renewables – solar, wind, and hydro power – and that figure assumes that burning biomass is green. So, by my very poor maths (I blame the lack of investment in maths teachers in the cattery. What are you going to do about THAT Rishi Sunak?)
That means 60 per cent is generated from non-renewable sources and that is the mix you get down your wire.
So, how can they claim to be 100 per cent renewable? It’s all done with smoke and mirrors.
Green energy generators sell their energy to the National Grid from their solar farms, wind farms, hydro schemes. Fair enough. BUT, they also sell Renewable Energy Certificates which energy companies buy and use to prove their green credentials.
They don’t, because it is physically impossible, buy the actual electricity they sell on to you and me. They just have a piece of paper saying they do.
In the same way, major users of greenhouse gases buy certificates to show they are supporting the planting of trees, for example. This, they claim, cancels out their non green activities. If only it was true and not just a huge con.
Yes, we all can do our bit. The planet, after all, is for all of us, now and for future generations, and I am in favour of government doing more to encourage energy efficiency.
What they can’t expect is that everyone can afford to move, in the next few years, to ground or air source heating, of even if we can, afford any changes needed – new radiators, insulation, etc – to accommodate it? Can we afford to ditch or reliable petrol and diesel cars for electricity when the cost of materials for batteries are rocketing and the charging infrastructure is not in place and won’t be for some time?
If Government is really keen, it needs to have a long-term plan for increasing renewable supplies, be they more tidal schemes or hydro schemes or nuclear, supporting a move towards the small reactors currently being developed.
We need real investment in exploring hydrogen energy, of nuclear fusion, or any other of the mind-blowing alternatives cats with bigger brains than mine, come up with.
But, of course, governments don’t work that way. Their longest-term plan is based on five years and the need to get re-elected. They don’t do really long term, really useful, forward planning.
And we need to stop pandering to the likes of Drax, who currently get eye watering payments, and their false claims that burning trees is somehow good.
We also need to stop big companies salving their consciences by buying certificates, worthless bits of paper that allow them to make claims of how green they are. British Airways with your ‘offsetting’ claims, are you listening?
Do what the cat does – sit in the sun on nice summer days and curl up in the Editor’s duvet in winter – and together, as little people, we can make a difference.
About Cumbria Cat
Born in Cumberland and, now, back living in Cumberland, having spent most of the past 50 years in some place called Cumbria, this cat has used up all nine lives as well as a few others.
Always happy to curl up on a friendly lap, the preference is for a local lap and not a lap that wants to descend on the county to change it into something it isn’t. After all, you might think Cumbria/Cumberland/Westmorland is a land forged by nature – the glaciers, the rivers, breaking down the volcanic rocks or the sedimentary layers – but, in reality, the Cumbria we know today was forged by generations of local people, farmers, miners, quarriers, and foresters.
This cat is a local moggy, not a Burmese, Ocicat or Persian, and although I have been around the block a few times, whenever I jump, I end up on my feet back in my home county. I am passionate about the area, its people, past, present and future, and those who come to admire what we hold dear, be it lakes and mountains, wild sea shores, vibrant communities or the history as rich and diverse as anywhere in the world.
