Don’t put all your ergs into one basket!

Is anyone else concerned that the Hinkley Point debate illustrates how far behind the UK has fallen in terms of managing our own energy generation? Will we soon outsource the maintenance of our armed forces or the NHS to international suppliers?

I’m all for assured access to carbon free power, but it seems short-sited not to seriously consider alternatives to nuclear power when the stakes are so huge.

Can you appreciate the massive impact that £18 billion would have if invested in Renewable Energy and Distributed Energy? It would completely revolutionise our energy ecosystem.

Distributed Energy (sometimes called DEG for Distributed Energy Generation or OSG – On-site Generation) and Renewable Energy offer some very attractive benefits based on current and available technologies. Unlike centralised conventional power plants, Distributed Energy offers modular, decentralised and technologically innovative generation capacity. Advances in storage technology and efficiency will be more easily applied to Distributed Energy systems than upgrades to a conventional power plant and at a fraction of the cost.

Thomas Watson, CEO of IBM is quoted as saying, “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” Later generations will judge us for how we create energy. Did we evolve and decentralise our energy generation, so that every home has a power-plant, like every home has a computer? Or did we stick with massive conventional power-plants and put all of our ergs into one basket?

– Simon Mehlman