Policy

Policy formation can be the product of vested interests persuading politicians, or their delegates, with no knowledge of the subject to adopt measures that sound plausible to a public with as little comprehension.

Is solar power really green?

Have compulsory seat belts or crash helmets really saved lives? At all?

This website is a response to a media that does not want to hear.

MIND YOUR LANGUAGE WHEN YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT RENEWABLES

Categories: Energy Policy, Policy

In their Comments feature, the Institution of Engineering and Technology published this article in Engineering and Technology in December 2016. In this critique, I highlight the misleading use of language and units in describing renewable generation technologies.
Typical claims for a percentage of electricity mean nothing, as you cannot have a percentage of something that is not a measurable unit. Similarly, using energy and power as interchangeable words for the same thing is deliberately misleading. The oversimplification has spread within the professional institutions; bodies that ought to be challenging the errors made in the public domain.

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DRIVING – AGE OR EXPERIENCE

Categories: Paternalism, Policy

Calls to raise the minimum age for driving a car occur when there is media attention on high profile accidents involving the young. Evidence is usually ignored and obvious questions remain unanswered. This article examines the effects of raising the driving age using lessons learned from raising the motorcycling age in 1972.

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The Economics of UK Energy Policy

Categories: Energy Policy, Policy

The evidence I gave to the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee was published in 2016. The report on their inquiry on the Economics of UK Energy Policy will be published in 2017. My message was that carbon reduction by energy policy was a technical challenge for engineers. Treating it as an exercise in economics will guarantee failure.

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ELECTRIC CARS: THE BETAMAX OF GREEN TRANSPORT

Categories: Energy Policy, Policy

In spite of their claims, electric cars are not zero emission. Not having an exhaust pipe does not mean that the energy used has come from a green source. This article asks just how green are electric cars and compares them with internal combustion engine cars. It goes on to take account of the carbon footprint of all cars and then their whole life emissions. The problems raised suggest that there is a doubtful future for electric cars. What are the alternatives?

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ENERGY POLICY: WHO’S IN CHARGE?

Categories: Energy Policy, Policy

This article highlights the problems of ‘depoliticisation’ in the policy formation process. Politicians instructing interests to deliver carbon reduction on the assumption that the market knows best are bound to fail as investment returns are in the opposite direction of carbon reduction.

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