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!
So you think you’re green, eh? But I bet you still fly. One return flight to Australia pretty much means that you shouldn’t breathe for the next 2 years, let alone burn any fuel!Ok, so you’re like me, you don’t fly, but you’d really like to. You don’t mind things taking a bit longer, which is why you will still get on the train to go to (fairly) interesting places and take a day rather than 2 hours (ok normally more like 6 hours once you take into account the trip to the airport, the checking in time, the flight, waiting for your luggage at the far end, and the trip from some airport in the middle of nowhere with sheep grazing on the runway). But! You don’t get to go to New York for a surprise trip for your wedding anniversary or a trip somewhere the other side of the world for some winter sun.
So, you have either given flying up or you probably should. There is an element of sacrifice involved. And what hurts most, no one else seems to be giving it up. The UK seems determined to expand its air traffic business [1]. It’s not inconceivable that people could lose their jobs if they refused to fly when it was deemed necessary. Flying is now part of our way of life, and we’ll only stop flying with the collapse of society.
Let’s just accept this reality and consider how to make the best of an unfortunate situation.
Well, obviously, people could fly less. That is a nice easy glib thing to say. More realistically though, they could fly more efficiently [2]. There are many ways that this can be achieved. Better engines. Higher density of passengers on the planes. Slower. Not planes.
But I just said flying is here to stay!
Well, yes it is. And it is inevitable that it will be. You just need less infrastructure to set up a journey. However there are some wacky ideas that shouldn’t just be ignored. How about a fast train from London to New York
No, I mean faster than a plane. A LOT faster. Yes, even than Concorde (RIP). 4000 mph fast enough for you. Should only cost about $175 billion plus running costs [3].
However, that is still a bit of a red herring, I was talking about airships. Now bear with me a moment. It isn’t what you are thinking. Airships don’t blow up. They almost never did even when people were a bit careless in their construction. They are slow, but slow means up to 200mph. That’s less than a day from London to New York (as the crow flies, and I admit being somewhat naive about trade winds). I’d lose a day of holiday to fly across the Atlantic guilt-free!
You could make getting places part of the experience too. There is talk of airships with tennis courts on board! Seriously, who wouldn’t want to fly in something called a Mega-Airship![4]
It is quite useful to have these figures in mind when reading things like David MacKay’s Without The Hot Air. It shows you how much we will have to change to get to a low carbon energy system, like the energy plans MacKay suggests. It is detailed plans for a new energy system that will be taken seriously by DECC, so we have to understand in as much detail where we are and how we can change.
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.
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.