UK Energy Policy

[ChrisLove]

There is rarely any praise for our leaders on here and I am no fan of Tony Blair, but I thought I would right to say that I think he should be praised for the strong stand the UK is making on environmental issues.

Blair has commited Britain to leading the way in Carbon emissions reductions, and while some of the polcies he has set out are likely to be to ambitious and unachieveable (like 10% of electricty generation from renewable sources by 2010), I think that he is making real steps in the right direction. It is important for some countries to take the lead on issues like this and show the countries that are burying thier heads in the sand that global warming can be fought at reletively low cost.

Britain is one of the few countries that will meet its Kyoto and Rio obligations (This is largely due to the change in UK fuel mix to favour the use of Gas) and seems to have a genuine desire to lead the world in emissions control.

Of course there is always more that can be done and oppoesition leaders have been critical about a lack of actual policies (not a fair claim in my view) but I for one am impressed.

Here are some articles about it from BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3656812.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3654042.stm


Here is a summary of the governments Energy White Paper 2003 (setting out policy)

http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/whitepaper/wp_summ.pdf

and the whole thing can be found on www.dti.gov.uk

[ChrisLove]

pokes thread with stick

yo environmental policy is probably the most important issue facing the human race, I reckon this is more important than Iraq, what do you all think about it, read the white paper n shit.

unless you cant be assed
which is cool

[catatonic]

I read up to 1:25.

I just got back to this message board after a while.

I think it's great... he'll help save more lives than a war on terrorism would.
Sometimes I think we become complacent when good things happen, which sucks.

[Ace42]

I don't trust Blair. He has a habit of drumming up support through white papers that never see the light of day. Still waiting for him to deal with the change in licensing laws paper (to prevent binge drinking with staggered closing times, etc) which was apparently "all but completed" (according to my former MP) four years ago.

[sneakyimp]

PROPS to the brits. Why can't the US do something like this? Doesn't anyone realize how strategically and economically vulnerable we are?? We consume 25% of the world's energy and China and India (who represent about 10 times as many people) are just now coming online with industries that demand energy (i.e, cars and computers).

And has anyone ever stopped to think how much energy it takes to fight a war? Tanks and Fighter planes aren't exactly fuel-efficient. How the hell do we expect to continue beating everyone up when energy starts to get prohibitively expensive?

we are FXXXed if we don't do something about it.

as for white papers never seeing the light of day, that sounds like the democratic/parliamentary process in action. nothing new there.

[Ace42]

God bless fusion reactors. Hopefully.

[ChrisLove]

White Papers dont nessecarily mean the shit gets buried, the gov seems fairly committed to this one, its the most radical change in energy policy since Nigel Lawson in 1982. I think it a major advance merely in the admission that energy consumption is causing global warming and that it is the responcability of government to deal with it. That alone is more than the majority of world govs have managed.

Whats more, it seems to me that Blair genuinely believes in this issue and I respect him for that (still voting lib dem next time around tho).

I really hope that Britain succeeds in becoming a becon of energy efficiency,and can influence others to follow suit. We produce 2% of world CO2 so we are going to make fuck all difference on our own.

[Ace42]

I think this is a tactic. I think he is eyeing up alternative fuel sources and thinking that if he makes posturing now, he can either capitalise on their implementation, or criticise opposition parties for failing to adopt them.

[Abe Froman]

We need more coal and oil and to increase mecury emmisions.