The Negative Impact Of Carbon-cutting Programs And Cap And Trade (aces)

Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America are faced with disintegrating and old infrastructures

. The power network is increasingly over extended with its inevitable consequences; the disruption to millions of lives. A lack of investment in the infrastructure has reduced the ability of the UK and USA to meet their electricity requirements.

The need to make a quick buck has not helped either. Investors no longer invested in statutory undertaker to make a small but steady profit but tried to maximise their returns while minimising their outlay or investment. Boards of directors and compliant management along with the lure of stock options were only too eager to jump onto the bandwagon.

There is no "duty of supply" placed upon the electricity generating companies and as governments and regulators do not themselves generate electricity, they are not in a position to deliver security of supply.

Consequentially, in countries like the United Kingdom, the planned decommissioning of older nuclear power stations is suspended indefinitely i.e. the 1,250MW Torness nuclear power station is currently set for 2023, but its operator, British Energy, is already talking about an extension to its operating life.

To ensure that the future generating capacity can meet the demand, new generating capacity and/or further energy efficiency measures will be required beyond 2010. It is estimated that British families will face an extra 700 a year on their energy bills to replace Britain's aging power stations.

The United Kingdom imports/exports electricity from France through a 2GW high voltage direct current link under the English Channel. In 2004 the UK imported 9,784 GWh of electricity and exported 2,294 GWh.

In addition there is a 500 MW connection between Northern Ireland and another 600 MW connection between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Even though renewable energy has been around for a reasonable amount of time its exorbitant price has more than often stopped most of us from pursuing its use. In 2004 3.6% of all electricity generated in the UK came from renewable energy of which 12.25% came from onshore wind farms, 1,4% from offshore wind farms and only 0.03% from photovoltaic cells. And let us not forget that to balance the losses and gains of energy from wind turbines, back-up gas and oil turbines are constantly being throttled up or down leading to their inefficient use.

Interestingly enough the 'world's leading solar power generator' is not in sun soaked regions such as California or southern Spain. It would probably surprise you to learn that that title goes to a country whose climate is not exactly famed for its blazing sunshine and one which is not so different to Britain's: Germany.

At the time of writing, Germany had over 300,000 solar panel systems generating over 200 times more solar energy than the United Kingdom. Within four to five years, Germany will generate as much of its electricity from solar power as the United Kingdom currently generate from nuclear (around 20%).

As Germany does something concrete regarding renewable energy the United Kingdom Government policies helps the climate-industrial complex to appropriate yet more money from their captive consumers by means of excessive gas and electricity prices.

In the United States the picture is just as bad. When the American Clean Energy Security act (ACES) passes it will cost the average American family $1,241 per year because as the Wall Street Journal put it, "the whole point of cap and trade is to hike the price of electricity and gas so that Americans will use less. The effect of ACES will show up not just in electricity bills or at the gas station but in every manufactured good, from food to cars.

An analysis carried out in Britain found that the average UK family is paying nearly $1,300 a year for the so-called carbon-cutting programs introduced there just a few years ago.

In both the USA and the UK government policies are to hike up the price of electricity and gas to get you to use less energy instead of promoting solar energy and assisting home owners to generate their own electricity. I think that this is contemptuous when those pushing these policies know that ultimately the cost of these policies will be passed onto the consumers in one way or another and that reductions in consumer spending will ultimately mean a decline in production and lead to the loss of jobs.

by: Alain Prud'homme

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