Rather than taking action to meet its commitments on renewable energy, Brown’s government is actively wriggling out of them. Even more pathetically, it’s trying to persuade other governments to soften their line, let the targets slide a bit, don’t worry so much about climate change. Why? Because in the view of Brown’s advisers (in which we might include the CBI), the targets just aren’t realistic. We’ve done all we can and it just won’t work.
Over a year ago, the Carbon Trust were sending up warning signals about the inefficiency of the Renewables Obligation (RO), the Government’s primary method for supporting renewable energy technology. They found that the RO is the worst of all possible options. Yep, of the methods they considered, the RO is the least practical and cost effective method of achieving renewables targets and carbon reduction. And the best? Feed in tariffs similar to those that sparked the PV boom in Germany and that you find in Italy, Spain, Greece, and other countries.
So why does the UK stick to a doomed policy? Probably a number of things: Government inertia, the nuclear lobby feverishly presenting themselves as a silver bullet, utilities hoping to maintain current margins. But little in the way of valid argument. There’s no excuse for shirking responsibility on this issue.
carbon limited 