New energy in Britain

Ed Miliband, the UK’S Secretary of State for Energy and Climate has just released plans for Britain to become a low-carbon society by 2020. The plans, which include the creation of green power, electric trains and efficient homes, are expected to create 500,000 jobs and develop new technologies. “No government in the world has published anything like this,” wrote The Guardian. But the British media were not only full of praise.

Remarkable ambition

The Guardian

"... The ambition is remarkable, even if much of the detail in the paper is familiar to experts. But it is reasonable to ask whether it can be met in only 10 years, during a period of sharply falling government spending, dependent on technologies that have not all been invented and decisions that have not all been taken. ..."

Not in my backyard

The Times 

"... The Government’s aspiration to increase the amount of energy supplied by renewables from 2 per cent at present to 15 per cent looks increasingly fanciful. To meet its pledge, … the UK would need some 7,000 extra wind turbines. Critics already believe that these are dark Satanic turbines, blighting England’s green and pleasant land. Only a few hundred have been built in the past year, as projects have become mired in planning complaints. The great switch to wind power is a victim of a not-in-my-backyard mentality. ..."

Winds of change

Financial Times

"... The source of most excitement is wind power, in which an Atlantic island certainly has a comparative advantage. …

Despite its abundance, wind has a problem: it is intermittent and requires back-up power to kick in when the wind falls. The most likely candidate for that role is gas. The CBI, the employers' group, has criticised the government's emphasis on wind, arguing that it will keep gas's larger than necessary share of the power mix ..."