Costly renewables

Gill Turner asks for proof that renewables are expensive (Letters, 9 February). I have read many such documents, but the best proof is global energy statistics, namely BP’S Statistical Review of World Energy, a company that supports the Paris Agreement.

The only renewables which can be deployed at sufficient scale are wind and solar. To the nearest whole number, the percentage of global energy from wind is just 1 per cent, and from solar a laughable zero. Conspicuous by its absence is official data on how much this measly achievement has cost. But it’s not billions, it’s trillions.

But it gets worse. The sun doesn’t shine for 12 hours per day and it’s not uncommon for wind to effectively disappear from large areas. So far not a single penny has been spent on solving this problem. Nobody knows how much this would cost but I guess it would be crippling.

GEOFF MOORE Alness, Highland

With inadequate funds for pothole repair, school music lessons, health, defence, etc, there is never enough money to go round, as Gill Turner will

agree. Ian Moir will be able himself to argue for his scary figures estimating costs of our home and industrial decarbonisation (Letters, 7 February) so as to fight anthropogenicclimatechanges(agw).

The real point at issue, however,

is that for mere “token greenery” to be a justified expense but without any chance of efficacy in influencing the world’s climate, the UK would need to be vastly rich.

No-one is a climate change

sceptic but many, very sceptical as to the importance of AGW, see no sense in throwing money at it.

Perhaps “room should be reserved in hell” for those who advocate spending our scarce resources without good reason. (DR) CHARLES WARDROP Viewlands Road West, Perth

Gill Turner is obviously not happy with Ian Moir’s letters, which regularly challenge the logic of energy policies on the basis of the economic viability and sustainability of these policies. If she took the trouble to look into the figures, she would see that all figures quoted by Mr Moir are a matter of public record.

ALAN THOMSON Kilcamb Paddock, Strontian