We must not ignore net zero commitment

I AM sure we are all watching the situation in Ukraine with horror and, given the rising costs of oil and gas. It is not surprising we are questioning our energy policies, but we must not allow ourselves to be sidetracked from the vital net zero commitment, and in the longer term this will also help to lead us towards greater control of our energy supply.

New North Sea oil and gas reserves will take more than a decade to come on stream, and fossil fuels are priced on an international market, whereas investing in renewable energy generated on and off our own shores is basically lowhanging fruit.

Now that green hydrogen is actually cheaper than grey hydrogen and that it is possible to mix hydrogen with natural gas to make our gas go further, we have new ways that could relatively quickly reduce our reliance on natural gas and would more than compensate for the imported gas from Russia.

Crucially, renewables are also cheaper than fossil fuels. The cost of gas reached a 20-year low in the middle of 2020 due to the pandemic. Even so, Government figures for that year show that renewables were substantially cheaper than gas for electricity production, with largescale solar just shy of half the price of gas-generated electricity. In the four years leading to 2020, renewables dropped in price dramatically, almost halving for offshore wind.

Since then, the war in Ukraine has been disastrous for gas prices, but renewables continue to fall in cost and are now massively better value for electricity production. As further expansion of renewables is possible, new investment would bring better returns to the country if they are put into renewables.

Sarah Pennington Exeter