Energy Day ob Radio 5live today

[Energetic]

Worth a listen perhaps, Ed Davey just been on with Nicky Campbell.

 

[Gavin A]

I sent an email complaint in last night about them advertising it with trailers banging on about 'with energy consumption constantly rising...' despite energy consumption having fallen almost every year since 2005 in the UK.

was the level of debate any better researched than the trailer?

 

[whinmoor]

Conflicting opinions:

BBC News - Viewpoints: Do we have to choose between cheap or clean energy?

 

[SolarCity]

I sent an email complaint in last night about them advertising it with trailers banging on about 'with energy consumption constantly rising...' despite energy consumption having fallen almost every year since 2005 in the UK.

was the level of debate any better researched than the trailer?

I did not know that. Any idea what factors are accounting for this fall?

 

[Energetic]

I sent an email complaint in last night about them advertising it with trailers banging on about 'with energy consumption constantly rising...' despite energy consumption having fallen almost every year since 2005 in the UK.

was the level of debate any better researched than the trailer?

Not Massively from what i heard. OK so i did listen for a bit in the morning when Nicky Campbell was on, got annoyed and turned it off. I put i back on after lunch when Richard Bacon was on, got annoyed and turned it off.

The very basic objections went unanswered and the people who were supposedly there backing renewables (Ed D amongst others) didn't even fully convince me! in Eds defence it was pretty haphazard with the audience allowed to ask 3 or 4 questions before he got a chance to briefly respond.

Objections like:
Wind and Solar are only 20% efficient- you couldn't run a 30% efficient business etc... Fail to see that wind and sunlight are FREE!!! And nobody mentioned it either.

The UKIP guy on with Bacon said we'd be foolish not to frack and utilise a gifted resource but was against utilising the UK's abundant wind, tidal and solar resources, which he called 'playground technology' or something.

The vast majority of people still seem to think that conventional energy sources receive zero subsidy and renewables are robbing us blind. I didn't hear this countered but i wasn't listening all day to be fair.

I had more things to say but i'm going to take a leaf out of the medias' book and just do a half arsed job and wander off...

 

[Energetic]

I did not know that. Any idea what factors are accounting for this fall?

I was aware that since the banks mugged us energy use has come down due to lower economic activity and lower production but didn't know it started as early as 05. Rising costs and efficiency measures must have played a part in this too.

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

I sent an email complaint in last night about them advertising it with trailers banging on about 'with energy consumption constantly rising...' despite energy consumption having fallen almost every year since 2005 in the UK.

was the level of debate any better researched than the trailer?

Some useful stats on link below if of interest.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/energy-consumption-in-the-uk

 

[Gavin A]

I did not know that. Any idea what factors are accounting for this fall?

rising energy prices, falling income levels, combined with the massive energy efficiency programmes that have gone on in that time period prior to these numpties shelving them for green deal / eco just a few years before they'd have finished filling pretty much every cavity wall / loft, plus energy efficiency programmes for business, and improved efficiency in generation.

plus the recession, but the fall started well before the recession hit, though there was also some significant heavy industry shut down / moved abroad.

 

[TedM]

It's all about selecting the right statistics. The 25% drop is related to choosing 'households' as the unit and a base year of 2005.

By comparison the drop in per capita energy use from 1970 to 2011 is only 3.6%.

Have a look at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/65990/7358-uk-housing-energy-fact-files-2012--tables.xls