‘Action needs to be taken now.’ It’s the most ubiquitous sentence in any report we’ve seen from the government concerning… well, anything to do with engineering, really, but notably anything to do with engineering and energy. Carbon capture and storage? Action needs to be taken now. Development of wave and tidal energy? Action needs to be taken now. Reinforcing the national grid so it can cope with renewable energy generation? Action needs to be taken now. New nuclear build? Guess what needs to happen?
Adair Turner’s Committee on Climate Change is the latest body to call for action. The
Yes, there’s a general election on the way and policies are on hold, especially when they involve spending money. But the major parties barely differ on their energy policies, so why is there a problem? Unlike politics, the engineering and energy industries don’t grind to a halt every five years. Government intervention to kick-start the changes that we surely all know need to happen would stimulate the engineering sector, dispel fears of electricity black-outs when elderly power stations start to be shut down, and stop us falling behind in our commitments to cut carbon emissions.
Action needs to be taken now. That’s now, not some time after June.
Where’s the action?
Stuart Nathan
Special Reports Editor
As a manger of an engineering company that specialises in power generation parts, this is not new news. People – and people high up in the industry -have been saying that we will not have enough electricity to sustain current growth in this country as soon as 2015, so now does literally mean now. Nuclear,wind, tidal coal with carbon capture should be our top priority, not houses and shopping centres. Britain is full of engineers, not shop keepers, and they should be given the tools and the money to the do the job.
The needs are urgent so we need immediate action. The government needs to take the lead in insulating developers of new technology to help solve climate change from rapid changes in economic climate. They need to stimulate investment in these technologies until they become economically viable. Also industry needs to recognise the urgency and adopt new ways of designing and prototyping these new systems.
It would seem that everybody is waiting for somebody to take the lead. Government seems to want to update the energy supply situation but can not make its mind up. In this case it really does need the politicians to grasp the nettle and make the decision so that companies can move forward.
Britain is full of engineers, not shop keepers, and they should be given the tools and the money to the do the job. Neil Hunt: 14 Oct 2009.
I agree with this statement completely. The only thing I would add is: “so is the USA”.
The same thing is happening on both sides of the pond as they say; engineers are being held back from being engineers.
The earth, unlike the forecast of the doomsayers is starting to cool down again. The forecasts of the giant increase in Earth’s temperature come from computer modelling. As engineers, we know that is a great tool as long as we can verify the results. The verifiable results are proving the models to be wrong. For those of you that are interested in what is happening in the agenda driven environmental world, check out this link.
http://www.democracyforum.co.uk/environment-energy/66750-bbc-article-global-warming.html#post738346
We all need energy and lots of it if our societies are going to continue to grow. Engineers need to be working on engineering things. Check out my Group:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/hydrogen-h2/
Robert P Dingwall (Vikingbob, USA)
http://www.invents.net
Regrettably, you not quite correct.
The water engineering world DOES grind to a halt every five years, but it IS because of politics. Thatcher’s invention of the AMP cycle to introduce a substitute for competition in a lousy privatisation has stymied our efforts every five years since the start. This time it is coinciding with the global situation and the result is crushing us.
To quote something I read recently, we need action NOW.
There are three main problems.
1. Excessive de-nationalisation and free markets can excessively break up large well co-ordinated concerns like railways and the old CEGB, creating chaos and lack of decision.
2. Thus an energy tsar is vital; and there isn’t one. There are only advisors.
3. The sheer cost, and lack of cost-effectiveness of green technology is so horrendous that no government /country can realistically afford it at this time. By jumping aboard the green bandwaggon, now running out of control, we now have a monster that will inexorably devour western economies; engineers and all.