As the United States continues to shop around for a carbon reduction plan amenable to a majority of its legislators, inspiration has most frequently been drawn from the decidedly more progressive nations of the EU.  Yet this week, a prominent British scientist put forth a report that casts serious doubt on the validity of the United Kingdom’s currently enacted climate change solution.

The main thrust of the report is that a full third of all British power sources will be shut down due either to the carbon restrictions, or to old age by 2020. That leaves what the report termed a “yawning gap” of some 23 gigawatts, or roughly 400 of the world’s most powerful wind turbines, constantly operating at peak efficiency. 

The study also raises questions about the massive subsidies currently being offered by the British government for research and development of new clean energy sources. With some two billion dollars handed out last year, the total taxpayer money spent on developing new clean energy resources could top 60 billion dollars by the year 2020, when many of the existing power sources are set to go off-line. That same figure could fund the construction of fifteen nuclear power plants, more than enough to cover the gap in energy demand. 

Having said that, the report doesn’t entirely sell me on economic grounds. Nuclear reactors are very expensive to build, but they’re also pricey to run. To guarantee return on investment for anyone putting money into the new plan, the report recommends that the government fix the cost of power, regardless of availability or demand.  A fixed price both limits the incentives consumers have to save electricity, as well eliminating many of the cost advantages to additional power development in the first place. 

It’s also worth noting that the report is hardly an example of free and independent science. Its author is a noted and fervent supporter of nuclear power, and the man who commissioned the report, Andrew Cook, is a life-long industrialist and businessman, who may face significant financial expenditures to bring the processes of his company into line with the stringent carbon limitations.

While it’s clear that an eventual transition to clean power sources will present many challenges, reverting to non-renewable energy out of fear hardly seems like a reasonable solution. Even in a worst-case scenario of rolling blackouts and brownouts, continued growth is still possible.  India’s current rise as an economic powerhouse continues despite pronounced electrical shortages. 

Nevertheless, measures like allowing energy costs to float freely with availability and demand, and in-home energy use monitors, should allow—and indeed, motivate—consumers to use almost exactly as little power as they need, softening the clean energy transition, and setting the stage for a more sustainable future. 

Photo from Wikimedia Commons