“The answer is blowin’ in the wind,” beneath a turbine in a desolate field. Labour’s Shadow Secretary for Energy and Net Zero posted the video online earlier this year from near Mansfield as part of his “tour around wind farms”.
The UK’s legal obligation is to achieve net zero by 2050, not 2030. We have very little chance of doing so with renewables, but every chance of inflicting untold damage to the economy and living standards in the attempt. Our best shot is through nuclear, which is reliable, safe, high density, and involves negligible carbon emissions. We could have a network of nuclear power stations fully operational across the UK by 2050.
In the meantime, we should have access to the cleanest non-intermittent energy source widely available to us, which is natural gas. Fracking has been instrumental in achieving US energy security in the past few turbulent years. The risk of whole communities disappearing underground because of earthquakes appears to have been exaggerated.
Mr Miliband should be singing something like this: “The answer, my friend, is a diverse energy mix that allows us to maintain a reliable and constant base load while we build up the infrastructure to become predominantly nuclear-powered by 2050.” It’s definitely less catchy, but it makes more sense. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/despite-ed-milibands-ukele-ode-to-wind-energy-nuclear-power-is-the-answer-to-net-zero-paul-wilson-4368206?fbclid=IwAR3SCrGmH0YZR4Xr3Jqk4_DMsrw6mEyx_x2HfYzosglDLdOpesvSw_V6634
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