Scotland could reach a net zero target for CO2
output quite easily. That of course is predicated on becoming Independent for
the simple reason that virtually all energy powers are reserved to Westminster.
Until then we will be dragged along in the
slipstream of the UK Government whose agenda is generally not what it seems. As
always the prerogative is to firstly serve their financial masters in ‘the
City’ and to help the elites remain elite. Serving the public comes quite a
long way down the list of priorities and climate change is only interesting
insofar as it may provide new ways of hoodwinking and exploiting the
population. That is why they work so hard at ‘guilt tripping’ the public. When
we are suitably guilty and ashamed and have become dizzy with different
accusations it becomes easier to pick our pockets.
Climate change they say is all our fault, the
fault of the public, the fault of each of us as individuals. Likewise the
damage to the global ecosystem, loss of species and habitat, the general
environmental degradation we have all become aware of in recent years, is all our
fault. Indeed we are repeatedly told that it is specifically my generations
fault and each and every one of us is supposed to carry our individual share of
guilt. And of course like guilty children we are, the implicit narrative
suggests, going to have to suffer.
You could call this existential guilt trip the
new religion, a mixture of the worst aspects of Calvinism and Catholicism on
steroids, a dogma of despair. It is a proposition I entirely reject. Like
almost all of my generation these past forty years or so I was merely getting
on with life, doing my best to get by with the odd bit ( much too little ) of
rest and recreation along the way. There was never a time I can recall when any
of us were consulted about any of the big or even the small decisions that have
led to climate change. Like most folk I eat the food that is available to buy.
I use the fuel that is available and seems to me to offer best value. I live a
lifestyle that is largely defined by macro-economic forces, by big business and
by government. I remember when ordinary people in Scotland were much poorer and
I have enough of the canny Scot in me not to waste money, not to live high on
the hog, not to consume beyond the point of common sense or to squander any
resource wantonly.
I therefore reject this guilt hypothesis
entirely and yet we and our children and grandchildren will have to deal with
climate change and I agree that Scotland should play its part and even play a
leading part in demonstrating what can be achieved. The first thing is to
achieve a net zero CO2 target.
The reason why Scotland can achieve this goal
easily and without much pain is because we have 25% of Europe’s wind energy
resource, 25% of Europe’s tidal energy resource and 10% of Europe’s wave energy
resource. With the island of Tiree being the sunniest place in the UK and our
long hours of daylight in summer solar energy has a part to play too. Put
another way, we have renewable energy resources sufficient to produce at least
ten times our own energy needs.
We need not therefore worry too much about our
ability to produce clean energy. Already we generate well over 100% of our
current electricity needs from renewables and are on course to producing much
more. It is in the storage of energy and the adaptation required to meet our energy
needs in heating and transport that the challenges lie.
And even these challenges are fairly easily surmountable
and achievable with existing technology. The conspicuously absent part of the
solution so far has been the tiny hydrogen molecule. Part of the reason for that
has been the expense of production. The technology for producing green hydrogen
is pretty straightforward and merely involves using electricity to hydrolyse
water. This is a process which with ever cleverer catalysis is on the cusp of
becoming much more efficient. With wind energy prices falling at a staggering
rate and predicted to fall much further the production of copious amounts of
clean burning hydrogen is just around the corner.
As an energy dense substance hydrogen is a
great way of storing and transporting large amounts of energy and this
presents few technical challenges. As a fuel for heating our buildings in our
variable, warm one day cold the next climate, it excels. We merely need to
replace our gas network piping with pipe and fittings that can contain this
tiny molecule and we have solved the problem of an entirely clean green heating
fuel. This is no more difficult than the smooth transition we accomplished when
we changed from town to natural gas in the 1960’s. This solution is so obvious
that already a major gas boiler manufacturer has produced a boiler that can be
retro-fitted to run on hydrogen. There is no reason why hydrogen boilers should
cost any more than natural gas boilers do today. At around a £1000 for an
average boiler this shouldn’t present householders with too much pain.
If we were to become the socially and
regionally fair country we aspire to in an Independent Scotland we could make
bottled hydrogen available at competitive prices in all parts of the country
that are off the gas grid thus also solving the rural fuel poverty problem at a
single green stroke.
Of course there is nothing to stop us
insulating our buildings a bit better along the way where and when it makes sense
to do so. We should though, resist the wholescale pell-mell rush to insulate which
is being proposed. This is a recipe for a bungling approach that will inevitably
be exploited by cowboys and leave us with shoddy work and a hangover of the sort of insulation and
cladding problems that the Grenfell Towers tragedy has done.
That leaves the other big energy consumer of
transport to be dealt with. Once again it is difficult to deal with this until
we have the full powers of Independence. For example the current Scottish
government target for introducing electric cars is impossible to meet until
National Grid upgrade the grid network to meet the demand for electricity that
this will place on it. National Grid are a private company nominally under
Westminster control so I’m not quite sure how the target will be met ahead of
the rest of the UK.
There is no doubt though that electric cars are
a large part of the answer. This solution doesn’t work well though for vehicles
that are in use for many hours each day or for larger vehicles or construction plant
and machinery. Fortunately that innovative company, JCB, have already come up
with the answer and have developed an internal combustion engine that
runs on hydrogen. These engines are no more expensive to manufacture than
petrol or diesel engines. Once again the transition can be relatively painless.
There is much more that can be done but the
above will take us comfortably and easily to net zero CO2 in a relatively pain-free
way. What is lacking in Scotland is the necessary power and the political will
to get on an do it. What we need is less talk and more work. Action will speak
louder than words. We need to regulate big business and markets better. We need,
through taxation and other means, to reward good and socially responsible behaviour.
We need to reject the notion of individual guilt for the smokescreen it is and
hold our governments properly to account for failing to regulate our
exploitation and that of the planets resources by big business and financial
elites.
Scotland can have a leading part to play in
tackling climate change in demonstrating what can be done. We have had enough
of smoke and mirrors and target setting. This is a situation where demonstrating
what is possible really matters. If we as individuals are guilty it is in not
demanding more of our governments. Scotland’s government needs to get on with achieving Independence and then demonstrating
to the world how we can tackle climate change.
You echo my own thoughts entirely Mike. The only personal guilt we should feel is our failure to hold our politicians to account.
ReplyDeletereally good article Mike, as ever Independence is absolutely key to enable us to achieve a green recovery, and ultimately a green economy, without the baggage that the UK brings.
ReplyDelete