As badly as “green” mythology has damaged the United States, it has been even more devastating to a number of other countries, including Great Britain. Thus, we have this cri de cœur: “Britain’s industry ‘on cliff edge’ over cost of electricity.” It is becoming impossible to sustain basic industries–the ones most essential to any nation’s security–in the U.K.
Britain is committing a “national act of self-harm” through its high energy prices and risks losing its few remaining electricity-hungry industries, the chief executive of the Society of Chemical Industry has warned.
Sharon Todd said the country’s industry was “standing on the edge of a cliff”, facing electricity prices among the highest in the world — and predicted the bills would only rise.
The problem, of course, is Britain’s commitment to “net zero,” one it shares with many other developed countries (but not, of course, with China or India). The relentless drive to shut down reliable and affordable sources of electricity and replace them with quixotic wind and solar has been disastrous:
According to the report from the SCI — a group founded in 1881 to build links between science and industry — rather than falling, energy costs will gradually increase into the middle of the 2030s, exceeding the Ukraine spike.
If the projections were correct, said Todd, key industries would not survive. “This is urgent and pressing. We’re doing some sort of national self-harm now, on quite a big scale.”
The Brits know what the problem is:
Todd said that while some grid upgrades would have been required anyway, “the presence of intermittent renewables is baking in cost into the system”. In part, she pointed to the cost of storing electricity from windy days to use on less windy days.
And yet, even those who understand the problem have a hard time letting go of “green” fantasies:
“We believe we need a net-zero strategy, but it needs to be able to not kill our industry and add cost to the consumer on the way.”
Other than going all nuclear, there is no “net-zero strategy” that will not cause costs to explode and make basic industries unsustainable.
