Conferences, don’t you love them. We all go and there are just so many we could spend our entire lives listening to “experts” tell us about ‘climate change’ and ‘energy’. I was recently at the launch of the first 5 years’ Research Report by the UKERC. One-day long, excellent venue (IET, 2 Savoy Place), host of well-known folks on the podium, but I fell asleep. Literally. Must’ve been tired.
The UKERC Energy 2050 report is ‘weighty’ - “Making the Transition to a Secure and Low-Carbon Energy System”. You can tell, each word took several committees to determine. It is a “Synthesis Report”, bringing together the research results of a nationwide team assessing how the UK can “move to a resilient low-carbon ’system’”. If the report is not enough, you can wait for the book in 2010. And then maybe if you’re really keen, the film of the book…. The conference was merely the start of this publicity extravaganza.
But now here’s the thing - the research was a mix of behavioural, technological and mathematical, some of it doubtless excellent and new. But it is reported as a series of 23 “scenarios” with such romantic titles - CFH is the “Carbon Reduction Faint Heart” world where the UK achieves only half the 2050 targets; “LC Renew” is an accelerated technology pathway with all technologies delivered fast; “Dread” is the low-carbon world with any new technology ‘constrained’ and “Nimby” is a world where ‘local impact’ has forced the non-deployment of new technologies e.g. wind! (more…)
