Letter to the editor: Is the cost of net zero too much and is it right anyway?
Although not a fan of the naturalist Chris Packham, I find some of his views a bit extreme, I did find myself watching his programme ‘’Earth’’, on Saturday evening and excellent it was. In particular, he didn’t dismiss carbon dioxide as the worst of all evils, as our idiot Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, Ed Miliband, would have us all believe.
Indeed, the planet absolutely needs carbon dioxide (CO₂). It is a vital component for life on Earth, playing two critical natural roles, namely regulating the climate, CO₂ is a key greenhouse gas. Without a natural greenhouse effect, Earth's average temperature would be around -20°C (-4°F), far too cold to support life as we know it and secondly supporting life processes, carbon being the foundational element for all organic molecules, including DNA and proteins. Plants, algae, and cyanobacteria use CO₂ from the atmosphere during photosynthesis to produce food and oxygen, forming the base of the global food web.
In the past, falling levels of carbon dioxide have been a key factor in causing ice ages.
Then there is the cost of renewable energy. Wind farms in the UK have been paid billions to turn off their turbines when the grid can't handle the excess power, with total costs for these "constraint" payments reaching £1.5 billion in 2025 alone, a sum passed to consumers through bills.
In addition, renewable energy is unreliable, as figures from the National Grid show with today, Sunday, being wind 48.9%, gas 26.1%, solar 0.9%, while nuclear and biomass provided 12.1%, with the balance imported from Europe, primarily France. The previous day gas provided 39.7%, while wind provided 38.7% and solar 0.8%, nuclear and biomass 15.8% and France again the primary European source. Over the previous week, gas provided 43.9%, wind 30.4%, solar 2.1%, nuclear and biomass 17.9%, with France again the primary source of European electricity.
While this Labour Government and Ed Miliband in particular, has done its best to ruin our own oil and gas industries, the UK relies heavily on imported oil and gas, with recent data showing a net import dependency of around 44%, importing significant volumes of crude oil (around 42 million tonnes in 2023) and roughly half its natural gas, primarily from Norway, the U.S., and Qatar, making the UK vulnerable to global price shifts.
Robert Bishop
Broomfield Drive
Billingshurst
West Sussex