Limitless gas at the Conservative conference – the Carbon Brief weekly update
Shale gas is a “God-given” windfall, says government minister
The UK’s new environment secretary, Owen Paterson, continued to irritate environmentalists this week, insisting that he’s “delighted” that he may have shale gas in his constituency.
The newly appointed Conservative secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs was in bellicose mood at a conference fringe event, where he fielded a number of questions on energy policy. According to Paterson, wind farms shouldn’t have subsidies, shale gas is a “God-given” windfall, and worrying about carbon emissions from gas power is daft – ” why limit anything?” he asked.
Of course, although his views may well be influential around the cabinet table, Paterson is environment secretary, not energy secretary. His direct input into energy policy is likely to be limited.
But his opinions are probably at odds with those of Lib Dem Energy Secretary Ed Davey and his Conservative colleague Greg Barker, both of whom supported the government’s green agenda in their respective conference speeches. So is there a massive fight on the cards? We could speculate, but conferences are traditionally the time when fiery rhetoric is wheeled out for the party faithful – so it might make more sense to see how tensions over coalition energy policy play out in the coming months.
Show your (gas) working
There was something of a pushback against the Treasury’s less-than-enthusiastic attitude towards renewables this week. Two co-ordinated letters to George Osborne warn that uncertainty over renewable energy policy will damage investment in the UK. A private letter from seven energy technology companies was promptly leaked to the Times, while an open letter from a selection of multinational companies also did the rounds.
Meanwhile, government energy plans remain far from clear – we’re still awaiting a statement about gas power to be made “in the autumn”, and there’s ongoing wrangling over whether a 2030 target for decarbonisation will be written into an upcoming energy bill.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is endorsing building 20 gigawatts of new gas plant, and talking favourably about ambitious carbon emission reduction targets for 2030. But can you have both? DECC thinks you can, citing a piece of modelling it has carried out. Trouble is (as far as we know) no-one outside DECC has actually seen it. So we’ve submitted a Freedom Of Information request to see if we can sneak a peek.
Also on the blog this week:
How much would an expansion of nuclear power cost us?
Carbon Brief attended a Conservative party conference fringe event on nuclear power. It’s low carbon, it may well be necessary, but it ain’t half expensive.
Rolling blackouts warning from the Mail, but based on what evidence?
The Daily Mail misrepresents findings from an Ofgem report on UK security of energy supply.
Could better monitoring of cities’ emissions encourage the US to join climate treaties?
New ways to map carbon emissions from cities could be an important step forward in meeting emission reduction targets.
Methane emissions in the pre-industrial era
Sure, they had a significant impact on methane emissions. But what have the Romans ever done for us?
Uncertainty in weather and climate prediction: A Royal Society meeting discusses what it means and what to do about it
We attended a Royal Society meeting on managing uncertainty in climate science last week and it was so interesting, we’re still writing about it.