University of Exeter researchers have given their views of the UK’s government’s new net zero strategy, called Powering up Britain.
The government says the plan “will enhance our country’s energy security, seize the economic opportunities of the transition, and deliver on our net zero commitments”.
The official announcement highlights renewable energy, carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) and new nuclear plants, and notes the “vital role that UK oil and gas will play in the transition”.
Here Exeter experts from various fields comment on the strategy: Professor Peter Connor, Associate Professor in Sustainable Energy Policy, said: “Are green initiatives really green if most of the support goes to prop up fossil fuels? Easily the best funded plank of this policy initiative is CCUS – £20 billion for a technology which has previously proved to be great at sucking in money with little to show in terms of large-scale reduction of carbon entering the atmosphere. This is a commitment to maintaining the status quo of burning fossil fuels, against the day that power plants might one day be able to graft on a unit which captures some of the carbon dioxide emitted, at substantial extra cost per unit of energy generated. This commitment to providing life support to fossil fuels continues with hydrogen production, which looks to require at least a decade of using fossil fuels for production before there is enough excess of renewable energy to support hydrogen production going green. Support dwarfs that for heat pumps, a proven technology which a UK Energy Research Centre report only yesterday emphasised can help the UK make homes much more efficient while lowering carbon emissions.”
More on:
Posted On: 30/03/2023