Time To Stock Up On Torches And Candles Says Dowden

[youngmafbog]

And bog roll of course!

And its tough if you have an EV.

Thanks TINO's all a result of your rediculous Net zero polcies.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/05/britons-should-stock-up-on-torches-and-candles-in-case-of-power-cuts-says-oliver-dowden

[mushroom25]

more likely it's in response to this - 

https://www.space.com/solar-maximum-expected-2024-new-predictions-suggest

so heavy is society's dependence on the internet that no-one's really sure what will happen if there are major coronal mass ejections.

[Canary42]

///a result of your rediculous[sic] Net zero polcies[sic].///

 

Where is your evidence for this statement ?

[Old_Geezer]

Sounds like an admission that power policy is bringing us near to running out, just when they're trying to force all vehicles to plug into it. Still, causing panic, and runs on torches & candles, must be fun.

[youngmafbog]

//Where is your evidence for this statement ?//

And where is yours absolutley proving it?  Computer modelling is not science BTW and as an IT guy you would know that. It is not for me to prove its wrong it is for you to prove it is correct.

Besides the Net Zero policies which bash the poor in our society far more than others are clearly flawed and far too agressive.  You dont need to be a brain box to work that out.

[bednobs]

what's TINO?

[New Judge]

This is the beginning of the warnings that the National Grid is unlikely to be able to cope at peak times. Of course it will all be the fault of the consumers for failing to curb their insatiable appetite for using energy. You know, for the frivolities and luxuries they indulge in such as cooking and heating their homes and (for the suckers who have bought an EV) driving to and from work, hospital appointments, etc.

It will have nothing to do with the successive UK governments who have sacrificed the country's energy security by persuing the ridiculous and unachievable "net zero" cobblers. The same people who have overseen the decommissioning (without replacement) of the country's coal-fired power stations and endowed many billions of pounds upon a power complex in Yorkshire to enable them to convert from burning coal to burning 14m tons of freshly felled timber from across the Atlantic each year. Today is a typical winter day here in the UK. Not excessively cold, but overcast and not particularly windy. As I type, wind power is producing around 17% of demand and solar around 3%. These are the power sources which are costing consumers and taxpayers billions of pounds to instal. Meanwhile the bulk of the remainder is provided by gas (60%), nuclear (11%) and burning wood (7%). This country has not a hope in hell of becoming "carbon neutral" by 2050 - or by 2150 for that matter - and without a radical change of approach, Mr Dowden's warnings are perfectly appropriate.

Meanwhile China continues to burn more coal than the rest of the world put together and that will only rise. It has has some 243 GW of coal power under construction and permitted. When projects currently announced or in the preparation stage but not yet permitted are included, this number rises to 392 GW. For comparison, the UK's normal consumption for the entire country from all sources is about 40-45GW.

The 45,000 people currently enjoying their jamboree in Dubai should address this before worrying about the two penn'orth of energy (virtually none of it produced from coal) consumed in this country. And the UK government should stop trying to burnish its credentials by setting "a good example" to countries like China. They are simply impoverishing the nation's individuals and businesses and jeopardising its energy supply. China, which should be the principle target of their good example, has no intention whatsoever of ending its addiction to burning coal, for all the "good examples" we have been demonstrating.

[New Judge]

^^^Sorry, typo. Gas should be "only" 50%.

[Old_Geezer]

Tory

In

Name

Only

[david small]

New Judge tells it like it is. Common sense abandoned by the political establishment to the detriment of us all.

[bednobs]

is that the same as CINO?  i get very confuse with acronyms

[Old_Geezer]

Probably.

[Peter Pedant]

This is the beginning of the warnings that the National Grid is unlikely to be able to cope at peak times.

no I think it is the result of the end of rational ( international) govt.  Who wd have thought ANYONE wd blow up the nordgas pipeline? so stupid, since we all have to pull together

No we have at least one candidate: Putin.

My  mudda had a oil lamp ( like the leddy with the lamp) and said - oil cuts....

 

[youngmafbog]

Sorry, but you have lost me there PP.

[New Judge]

"Sorry, but you have lost me there PP."

How unusual!   🤣

[ichkeria]

Sensible advice: it was also given last year, I recall, when there was the backdrop of reduced energy supplies.

Forwarned is forearmed. We'd not be slow to moan if the worst happened without warning.

[Hopkirk]

Don't worry. The lights aren't going out 

[Buenchico]

As I read it, OD's statement has absolutely nothing to do with the capacity of the National Grid but everything to do with the possibility of a cyber-attack knocking out the country's power supply.  (PP seems to be reading it that way too).

The USA has an entire industry built upon 'prepping', where people are encouraged to stock up on non-perishable foodstuffs, heating supplies that don't rely on regional or national infrastructures to provide power and things like walkie-talkies to provide communications in an emergency situation.  OD just seems to be suggesting a somewhat slimmed-down version of that type of approach to what could happen in the event of a massive cyber-attack.

[newmodarmy]

Good answer Buenchico. It's refreshing to see someone answering without politicisn this issue, resorting to climate change denial or blaming Brexit. We had candles ready in the 1970s, albeit for different reasons (miners' strike)and have done so ever since as power cuts do happen from time to time; but the risks are higher now with cyber attacks and possible threats to pipelines linked to the Russia/Ukraine situation. Our reliance on wind and solar (rather than fossil fuels and nuclear energy) does of course increase the risks but that's a gradual change and isn't the main issue here.

No-one's mentioned crypto currency- isn't the mining there also a fairly significant drain on energy resources now?

[newmodarmy]

^politicisn =  politicising