Britain’s Energy Needs Serious Thought
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In 10 years’ time you’ll be kissing Putin’s feet
Date
01/08/2008
Smart Commodities UK
| By Garry White
Sometime in the next decade, every single person in Britain is going to have to bow before Vladimir Putin. After that, you’ll probably have to kiss his feet.
You won’t have to kowtow to Mother Russia because of a new Cold War… It won’t be down to aggressive military action… I am not concerned by Russian military ambitions.
The reason we’ll be beholden to the Russians – and Vladimir in particular – is because they have gas… lots and lots and lots of it. The blame for this can be laid firmly with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
Energy independence is the key to a prosperous future… and we may have just handed that prosperity away…. EDF has walked away from its bid for British Energy.
In January, a report from energy consultant Inenco revealed the depth of the crisis we are facing.
"We believe that demand overtakes supply somewhere between 2012 and 2015, creating a serious 'generation gap'."
By 2012, the last of the Magnox nuclear reactors will have closed. A number of older coal-fired stations may also have been shut down. If we don’t do something about it, the lights could go out.
This means that The London Olympics could be hit by a shortage of power if the worst case played out. How embarrassing would that be?
Russia is holding all the cards
To fill the looming energy gap, we’ll have to buy Russian gas… and it will be very, very expensive…
Our production in the North Sea is steadily falling. Britain actually became a net gas importer 2 years ago.
EDF appears to be more than a little exasperated.
"After in depth discussions, it considers that the conditions for a major development in Great Britain are not met to date."
This shock statement was released in the middle of the night. A press conference was scheduled in Paris this morning to announce the deal. The conference went ahead, but EDF discussed its half-year results instead.
The deal was supposed to signal the start of construction work on a new generation of nuclear power stations.
British Energy operates one coal-fired and eight ageing nuclear power stations. Together, they produce almost 20% of Britain's electricity.
Our energy infrastructure is aging and we need to build power plants now. Not tomorrow or someday in the future.
If we don’t get these nuclear power stations up and running before we run out of North Sea oil and gas, we will be utterly beholden to the Russians.
If the only way we can keep our economy going is to buy Russian gas then we will have to… but placing all your eggs in one basket comes at a cost.
You should be worried
Just look at how much power Saudi Arabia wields.
In the case of the BAe bribery scandal, we have had to keep the Saudis on side because we need them. To be more specific, we need their oil. This means they can get away with almost anything… and they have. The Russians will be equally as slippery if we are beholden to them for our energy strategy. We don’t want this to happen.
The fact is we don’t really have any viable alternative to secure our energy future other than coal and nuclear. It is unthinkable to give up fossil fuels until our nuclear strategy is in place but Greenpeace are using every method at their disposal to block this. Greenpeace is also part of the problem.
This will leave us without the self sustainability that we need to be a successful country in a rapidly changing world.
Energy poverty in the future will lead to real poverty in those nations that haven’t got it right. The next generation of Britons will be much, much poorer than the current generation if we have to pay external forces just to keep the country running.
Maybe the government will be able to generate a phoenix from these ashes. Let’s hope so… but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
Discover how you could profit from the coming energy crunch
Regards
Garry White
Editor
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Registered office 7th Floor, Sea Containers House, Upper Ground, London SE1 9JD. Registered in England with Co. No. 1937374. VAT No GB629 7287 94
Fleet Street Publications is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority Reg No. 115234. www.fsa.gov.uk/register