NEWS that a company wants to extract a form of gas from under the Firth of
Forth after a huge deposit of coal was found there has exasperated
environmental groups, and understandably so.
The product, syngas, can be used for power generation and the company
concerned, Cluff Natural Resources, says the discovery could power 150,000
homes for at least 15 to 20 years.
But Scotland’s big renewable energy success story so far has been in the
electricity sector, where the goal of providing 100 per cent of the
nation’s needs from wind, hydro power and other carbon-free sources is
realistically within reach within a few years.
No wonder campaigners have their heads in their hands over the prospect
that projects such as this one will perpetuate the country’s reliance on
carbon-emitting forms of power generation.
It has become less fashionable to talk about climate change since the
recession and the era of high energy prices. Where once politicians
advertised their commitment to dealing with the problem, the more
election-friendly issue of cutting energy costs for householders has since
taken over. A year ago, the Prime Minister hinted he would scrap altogether
the so-called “green levies” on energy bills that help pay for
carbon-emission reduction efforts, though the intervention of the LibDems
ensured they are being paid for out of general taxation instead.
At the same time, the dawning of the age of unconventional gas extraction
(including shale gas) has changed the debate. Amid talk of the need to
secure Britain’s energy requirements, new reserves of this fossil fuel are
being hailed as if they were the saviour of our energy future.
There is a serious discussion to be had about energy mix and how best to
ensure Scotland’s energy security, but there is also a danger of that
obscuring the pressing need to wean the nation off fossil fuels. A
short-term, stop-gap method of unconventional gas extraction in order to
enhance energy security is one thing, but Scotland does not need projects
that will tie it to the use of fossil fuels past the point where they are
strictly necessary.
Cluff wants in future to expand into the North Sea, so how long could it
potentially be producing gas extracted in this way? It talks of the
project’s climate change benefits compared with coal mining and coal-fired
power generation, but a comparison with renewable power generation would be
rather less favourable. Decisions on projects like this should be taken in
the context of Scotland’s long-term energy strategy. The threat of climate
change is no less pressing just because politicians find it less expedient
to talk about it. The International Panel on Climate Change last week
published its latest report and stated most electricity worldwide could and
must be generated from low carbon sources by 2050 if the world was not to
experience “severe, pervasive and irreversible” damage.
A Scotland powered by 100 per cent renewables is no pipe dream; it could
become reality, but never will unless the nation ceases to rely on fossil
fuels.
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