A few months ago I started a new Serious Change project. The aim of the project was to write good responses to online newspaper and blog posts about the UK energy system.
Well, after a few months of online meetings, and posting comments, we got pretty good at responding. We even started to see common arguments for not investing public funds in our energy system. So, the obvious thing to do is to list these common arguments and write our best reponses (google doc). Anyone who would like to help write reponses is most welcome to write on that google doc — and if you would like to discuss any aspect of this project then just email lisa at seriouschange dot org dot uk.
The good thing about this exercise is that the next time we come across one of these common arguments, we can save ourselves some work and just refer to our reponse here — and so can you!
At Serious Change, we think that Britain can become zero-carbon, and we can keep our lifestyles, all the while using only current technology. Some of these existing technologies aren’t very well known yet.
Did you know these three things about electric cars?
1. Electric cars are, roughly, five times more energy efficient than petrol cars (see Without Hot Air, page 127 for details). That means that even while we’re still burning fossil fuels to make their electricity, electric cars reduce CO2 emissions and save us money. Later they can be wind and nuclear powered.
2. We can lease the batteries. Instead of thinking of them as part of the body of the car, think of them as part of the fuel. Yes, they need replacing every few years, and yes they are expensive. However, combined with the electricity, they are still cheaper than the equivalent petrol. (For details of the leasing business model, see the Better Place article below).
3. So far, three whole countries and two US states are in the process of changing to electric cars. These are Israel, Denmark, Australia, California and Hawaii. They’re giving tax breaks and partnering with a start-up called Better Place. Britain could do the same. The most inspiring introduction to Better Place is this profile of the founder.
There’s a lot more to say about electric cars another day. I’ll leave with one more thought, Electric cars are fast, like the Tesla Roadster in the photo above.