THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIII, Issue # 247, October 14, 2011
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
WILL RENEWABLE ENERGY BANKRUPT THE UNITED KINGDOM?
By Dennis T. Avery
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY: BRITAIN IN
THE GRIP OF A LIVING STANDARDS CRISIS -- WITHIN FOUR YEARS, EVERY AVERAGE-INCOME BRITISH HOUSEHOLD TO BE
DEFINED AS LIVING IN FUEL POVERTY -- THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT TO RAISE ELECTRICITY & GAS TAXES TO INVEST IN
MORE HIGH-COST RENEWABLE ENERGY, ESPECIALLY HIGH-COST & ERRATIC OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES -- HIGH TIME FOR
THE UNITED KINGDOM TO ABANDON UNILATERAL & UNREALISTIC TARGETS FOR CUTTING CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS,
ESPECIALLY WHERE SUCH GOALS CAN ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY INVESTING A FORTUNE IN PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE
"RENEWABLE" SOURCES OF ENERGY
FULL STORY:
“When people on average earnings start to fall into ‘fuel poverty,’ it is clear that Britain is in the grip of a living standards
crisis,” leads the United Kingdom’s Daily Express of October 12, 2011.
“On current trends, every British household on a
middling income will be defined as living in fuel
poverty within four years. . . . add in the bills for
running a car and the picture becomes bleaker
still. . . . All the old complacent assumptions
about Britain being a securely prosperous
country must be jettisoned.”
One-fourth of British households may be forced into “fuel poverty” by 2015, as the British government raises electricity
and gas taxes to invest in more high-cost renewable energy — especially high-cost and erratic offshore wind turbines.
“So it is time for Britain to abandon unilateral and unrealistic targets for cutting CO2 emissions, especially where they will
only be achieved by investing a fortune in prohibitively expensive ‘renewable’ sources of energy,” concludes the
Daily Express.
The costs of British electricity have doubled since 2004, and are expected to rise another 20 percent this year. The German
Deutsch Bank predicts another 25 percent rise by 2015 as the United Kingdom pours billions of public dollars — from
both the Treasury and higher consumer billing — into the big steel barges and the tall turbine towers.
“‘Radical policy change’ may be necessary to protect millions of struggling families from the biggest household price
shock since the 1970s,” writes Sean Poulter in the Daily Mail of October 12, quoting London financial analysts.
Meanwhile, Poulter says, with the worst unemployment figures for 17 years, the Institute for Fiscal Studies found families
are about to endure their biggest income drop in over 35 years (a collapse which, incidentally, brought Margaret Thatcher
to power).
Put another way, the British cost of electricity is rising about six times as fast as British household incomes, according to
David Blair in the Financial Times of October 11. He predicts the steady rise in electricity and gas charges could
force the government to reconsider spending L200 billion on new infrastructure by 2020, especially that big expansion of
wind power.
“If the rate of increase continues, it would concentrate minds even further and energy costs would rise potentially to the
top of the public’s agenda and therefore of the political agenda,” Blair quotes David Hunter, an energy consultant. Mr.
Hunter described the costs as “eye-watering.”
Meanwhile, Lord David Young, the former U.K. Secretary for Trade and Industry, said in the London Times:
“No one can doubt that we are going through a period
of global warming. A few weeks ago, I was at an Inuit
settlement on the west coast of Greenland, where they
have seen five months of sea ice a year reduced to less
than a month. . . . Cold weather [persisted in England,
however,] between the 15th. and 19th. Centuries, when
the Thames would freeze over and frost fairs were held.
It was said in Roman times, when we were going
through a warm period, that English wine was famous. . . .
Our climate is always changing”
Lord Young warns, “in an age of few political beliefs, the cause of climate change [has become] an end in itself. . . . Only
recently, the Government Chief Scientist [Professor Sir David King], no less, forecasted that, by the end of the [21st.]
Century, Antarctica would be the only habitable continent.”
But he notes that there has been no global warming trend since 1998. “Are we absolutely certain that the main cause of
global warming is carbon and has nothing to do with the output of the Sun, or any of the other theories?” he asked. “It
would be unfortunate if history recalled that we solved a problem that, in the end, did not require a solution by tipping
[Britain’s economy] into a depression.”
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
The Earth's Natural History, Global Climate Changes,
& the Future of Human Life & Civilization on the Planet:
Science, Ideology, & Public Policy
Britain -- The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland:
Mother Country & Close Ally of the United States of America
The Anglosphere -- The English-Speaking World:
The U.S.A., Britain, Canada, Australia, & New Zealand
Dennis T. Avery is a senior fellow and environmental economist for the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., as well as
Director of the Institute's Center for Global Food Issues (CGFI) and Editor of Global Food Quarterly, the newsletter
of the CGFI. Formerly, he was a senior policy analyst for the United States Department of State, where he won the National
Intelligence Medal of Achievement. He is co-author, with atmospheric physicist Fred Singer, of the book,Unstoppable
Global Warming: Every 1500 Years (Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: Rowman & Littlefield, 2006). Avery's book,
Saving the Planet With Pesticides and Plastic: The Environmental Triumph of High-Yield Farming (Washington,
D.C.: Hudson Institute, 1995 and 2000), continues to be popular as a readable overview of realistic agriculture for the future
and for today. Readers may write Avery at Post Office Box 202, Churchville, Virginia, 24421. Email: cgfi@hughes.net
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity