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Decentralisation of Energy
A look at the speech by Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London |
Normally when a politician sets a scene they are desperatiely trying to dispell the fears of their listeners by pointing out the exaggeration of the press. Just look at the recent responses on bird flu, civil war in Iraq, the 'casual' drinking habits of MP's...
Not so this time round I am afraid.
The Mayor began by explaining that, as we are now feeling the effects of climate change caused by industry in the 1950's, regardless of anything we do from now on, over the next 40 years we will see:
- choas in the scramble for water
- a dramatic rise in malaria related death
- increased poverty for the world's poorest
- massive security problems and,
- catastrophic weather events
To make sure we got the point he highlighted the fact that the President of the Maldives is aware of and absolutely accepts the fact that he will not have a country by the end of the century.
Ah
He then went on to add that we will be running out of oil pretty soon and that our electricity system is decades old and worn out.
Great.
Amazingly, despite all of this there was a feeling of jubilation in thr room.
It had just been anounced that it would be possible to hit the 2050 Kyoto targets for the capital and avoid the need for nuclear power. And that to do this we simply needed to make use of the 2/3 of energy we currently waste in the energy creation process.
An independent report had been commissioned "not from Arthur Scargill but a rapacious capitalist firm" which had assessed the merits of implementing a a policy of energy decentralisation.
It had come out in favour of this idea and the Mayor was there to explain the concept.
I did a bit of background on this on Monday so if you read that you might want to skip this bit - if not though...
Energy supply at the minute
In case you don't know. Our energy is made by burning fossil fuels which produce steam. This steam then powers turbines which create electricity.
This is then pumped off to us, so that we can turn our lights on and off shamelessly whenever whimsy takes us.
But
The steam that is used needs to go somewhere and so is sent up cooling towers and released into the atmosphere.
This wastes a third of all energy produced.
A further third is then wasted as the power moves from the out-of-town stations to our homes.
So
We have lost 2/3 of all our carefully made energy before it even gets to us.
It has been pointed out by this report - shock - that this is a waste.
And so it suggests a solution.
That solution is the decentralisation of energy.
Decentralisation of Energy
By creating smaller, urban, off the grid power stations we can save nearly all of the 65% energy we are currently wasting.
We build small, office sized power stations next to the homes and offices they are going to provide energy to.
They work on a system of 'combined heat and power'.
I.e. these mini power stations make use of the heat created in burning fossil fuels or biomass rather than releasing it in to the atmosphere.
Since they are next to homes and offices, this heat energy is pumped straight into them (or used to power air conditioning cooling systems).
At the same time the energy created by the turbines is used as it always was.
And
Before you get alarmed. They are safe. And not just hypothetically safe. They are proven to be safe as this technology has been used for years in Europe and, of course, Woking!
So, while our PM has been rambling on about establishing wether or not we need to build new nuclear facilities, right under our noses was this safe, reliable and cheap way of using the wasted 2/3 of the energy we already make!
Man alive.
There's more? No it's not possible...
Yes - as if that is not already enough excitmement - decentralising our energy can also bring massive water savings.
The creation of energy in the UK uses 50% of our water supply.
If we do not need to use such massive amounts in cooling towers and in old, wasteful power stations we will have much more water to flagrantly use in paddling pools and deep luxuriant baths.
Can there be something else? Is that not enough?
Plus of course there will be no need to build massively subsidised nuclear power stations which have been proven as a safety risk.
To sum up all of that in a (vaguely) concise manner...
Decentralised Energy, saves 2/3 of currently wasted energy, saves water, has been proven to work, costs comparibly little to implement, does not require subsidies and can be built taking into consideration changes in fuel supplies we are likely to see in years to come.
It was suggested in an independent report that has been backed by GreenPeace and London's Mayor - a man who isn't known for backing things he doesn't agree with!
While there is a lot of doom and gloom about climate change the decentralisation of energy could make a significant impact.
It is suited only to urban areas but then, as 75% of the world's population is estimated to be living in urban areas by 2050, this is as good a place as any to start.
The root cause of our energy problems is that we simply use too much to sustain ourselves.
If we can reduce our energy use and waste while at the same time developing new, renewable sources we still have a chance to avoid complete environmental disaster.
In the short term it is also a way of saving money.
If we can eliminate waste then we also eliminate the expenditure on this waste.
In Brixton, pioneering housing projects have been implemented where the energy efficiency of the homes have reduced the yearly electricity bills to £70, highlighting that it already possible to live without this dependence of massive energy supply in the UK.
(If you want to try to reduce your own energy use then check out the Ten Week Plan to Energy Efficiency we have set up on here.)
As the Mayor pointed out - "We face the worst crisis in humankind's history if we don't get this right" but we have one opportunity to stop catastrophic loss of life.
Across the globe the issue of the environment is taking a prominent role.
Developing nations such as China are taking the initiative to invest in new, energy efficient technology and Western powers are taking note too.
While we fall woefully behind nations such as Sweden who are on course for using 100% renewable fuels by 2020, environmental discourse is the top of the political agenda in the UK.
And, even though the US government has refused to sign the Kyoto protocol, 180 Mayor's across America have while California has pledged to reduce it's carbon emissions by *80% by 2050.
So there is hope.
But we must not get complacent. This type of initiative and action must be supported and must be taken now.
In case we had been too encoraged by the announcements of the night - the Mayor signed off with a gentle reminder:
On our death beds we need to be able to look our children and our grandchildren in the eye and know that we are leaving them a world that is worth living in.
*I.e. Arnie will be getting rid of his fleet of Hummer's in 2049.
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