| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Come and enjoy the lovely air in Putney High Street - I don't think | |
| Posted by: | Roland Gilmore | |
| Date/Time: | 22/01/10 08:22:00 |
| "The idea of environmentally-friendly fuels is fine, but that's all they are yet, an idea.” Not true Richard. For one, the latest tranche of wind farm licences is testament to that and NASA has been using Hydrogen and fuel cells since the 1970's. The first fuel cell cars are leaving the production lines so change is underway but far too slowly. What has been and is still lacking is the will to invest in hydrogen infrastructure. The question to pose to government is "Why wait until the cost (to the economy, the climate/environment and individuals) of continuing with Carbon based primary fuels escalates to act decisively?" We should be using this period of grace with relatively low cost Carbon fuels to get on with the work that is urgently needed. One of the reasons Copenhagen failed was that the conference was held within a background of economically uncertain times but as many studies and reports have indicated, we cannot afford to wait. The future cost of inaction for a major shift now does not bear consideration. I would add that most government schemes on domestic energy reduction are inefficient. The principals behind Carbon trading and offsets is a also highly questionable. Because of their hit and miss outcome, domestic projects (for those on benefits and low incomes) are costing far too much to implement. I believe they are diverting attention away from the bigger questions. Only a fraction of the £24Bn raised in "green" taxes is being channelled into efficient "green" policies. We simply cannot afford to sit back and wait for better economic times to act decisively. |