The new energy minister calls shale “the holy grail” of energy policy. He’s probably right. It’s a mythical object that no-one’s found, and over time just has increasing comedy-value.
The new energy minister calls shale “the holy grail” of energy policy. He’s probably right. It’s a mythical object that no-one’s found, and over time just has increasing comedy-value
Today, new energy minister Matthew Hancock has lined up behind the rest of the men in the coalition government to don his cheerleader outfit and start thumping the tub for fracking.
Astonishingly large swathes of the British countryside are now laid open to the drillers’ rigs, as the government’s new map today shows. It’s an obsession that’s starting to seem more than slightly unhinged.
What’s worst about this bizarre fixation with trying to force through the least popular energy source since nuclear power is that if the government were genuinely concerned about the problems fracking purports to solve, there are many other things it should do first.
Mr Hancock claims that “shale gas can reduce carbon emissions by reducing the amount of coal that we burn”.
First, the jury is still out about whether shale gas is lower carbon than coal – as Carbon Brief set out. Second, even if it was lower carbon, drilling shale gas won’t just magically replace coal. That’s like saying if I make some toast, you will automatically stop eating cornflakes. The decision about coal or gas is down to prices and regulations.
If the government wanted gas power stations to run more than coal, it would increase the carbon price. The chancellor froze it at this Budget. Or it could use regulation – but it explicitly gave a loop-hole to old coal power stations so they can avoid the new Emissions Performance Standards. And just this month it’s introduced a new subsidy worth a billion pounds to a 2 Gigawatt big coal plant, which could see old coal run for another 15 years. So it doesn’t really seem to want to do anything about coal at all.
Mr Hancock also claims “that shale gas has the opportunity to increase our energy security”.
Well, yes, if we fracked half the country, then we might make a small dent in what we import. But again, if the government were serious about energy security, then why on earth is its strategy for energy efficiency so pitifully weak?
Last week, health and poverty groups lined up to slam the government’s new proposals for tackling fuel poverty – the UK has some of the worst-insulated homes in Europe and some of the highest levels of fuel poverty. We’re wasting vast quantities of energy through leaky roof and walls every year. DECC projects that from now to 2030 the UK’s gas use will not fall at all.
And if energy security is such a problem, why is the UK among thecountries coming out against ambitious EU-wide energy efficiency targets for 2030? It makes much more sense, and is much cheaper, to cut demand rather than try to maximise supply.
Mr Hancock calls shale gas “the holy grail” of energy policy. Here he’s probably right. It’s a mythical object that no-one’s found, and over time just has increasing comedy-value. Far better to focus on what works.
The first focus of UK energy policy needs to be an aggressive focus on energy efficiency. Then decarbonising electricity, through a rapid expansion of renewables. Gas is a transition fuel through the 2020s. But shale gas is not needed to do that. Among Labour supporters, only 19 per cent want fracking, with 44 per cent opposed.
There’s no sense, or parliamentary seats, in ripping up the beautiful British countryside pursuing a futile dream.
Simon Bullock is a senior campaigner at Friends of the Earth
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30 Responses to “Fracking for shale gas: Hancock’s half-truths”
jendurham
I do not understand how fracking can improve energy security when most of the companies are foreign anyway. Do you know who provides your power at the moment, or even your water?
By the way, Leon Wolfson, China produces far more energy from renewables than we do.
Leon Wolfeson
Yes, they have a *lot* of hydroelectric, over 200GW.
Of course, they’re also still building coal plants like crazy.
Mike Stallard
The “Green” policy is even more expensive – it does not work when the sun isn’t shining or when the wind doesn’t blow and it is all done by huge foreign firms backed up by very expensive “charities” lobbying in Brussels.
Wind farms and solar panels are a matter of taste – I personally quite like wind farms – but nobody could argue that they do not affect the view. Black solar panels are an eyesore.
Norfolk29
You obviously live in a different world from me. I have solar panels and they create half of the electricity I use. I also have an Air Source Heat Pump and have stopped buying 1500 litres of oil a year for the cost of £400 a year in electricity. During the summer, especially the current one, i get all my hot water for less than a £1 a week. Try thinking of that scaled up to all the houses in the UK with south/southwest facing roofs.
jendurham
Actually in 2011 China had 687.1 hydroelectricity. It is top of the rankings for all renewable electricity, producing more than the whole of the EU. They are also building wind turbines like crazy, with a five year average growth of over 50% where the EU can only manage 12.5%.