Victoria's Green Matters - 21st Nov 2013

Deal With IT's Secretary Victoria Nicholls writes a regular column in the East Kent Mercury:

The way that we will produce our energy in the future is a huge subject. We all know that we cannot continue to burn fossil fuels at the rate that we do now without causing catastrophic climate change around the world.

There are many ways to create energy but because burning fossil fuels is easy, we have not invested enough time and money into the research and development of less damaging techniques. Our basic way to produce electricity is to use water or steam to turn a turbine. Even nuclear energy is used to heat water to create steam to turn a turbine. We have recently heard reports about the new nuclear power station due to be built at Hinkley Point where ‘our greenest government ever’ has enlisted Chinese money and French expertise to produce the plant. Nuclear is carbon free but this outdated design will produce dangerous waste for years – no mention was made of this huge disadvantage.

In contrast, our government is to be asked to join with Iceland and benefit from their abundant energy from natural underground geysers and hydropower from glacial melt water conducted by an undersea cable. No carbon emissions here and it is highly reliable.

Our ‘first world’ society is extremely wasteful where energy is concerned and we should be aiming to build houses to a standard where it only costs £20 per year to keep warm (yes, really!) and this is only a drop in the ocean where energy conservation is concerned.

Victoria Nicholls. Transition Deal.