Our net-zero future will be unemployed, poor, static, freezing and dark
SIR – We now see what the future will be like if we continue with the rush to undeliverable net-zero carbon.
Already our steel and other highenergy industries are burdened with costs 80 per cent more than those of German competitors. We have seen what happens when the supply of petrol and diesel are restricted; the increased costs of travel will stop most people travelling abroad for holidays while making business travel prohibitively expensive.
The rollout of so-called “smart meters” will allow energy companies or governments to increase prices at peak periods, ensuring that during these high-cost periods poorer consumers will not be able to afford hot water, cooking or light.
Britain often sustains periods of weather when the wind does not blow and we have overcast skies. We need other sources of affordable electricity.
While foreign competitors keep gas, coal and oil power stations going full tilt and provide low-cost energy to business and domestic customers, our Government appears hell-bent on dragging us into a future of mass unemployment, lower living standards and an altogether poorer nation.
Ian Wallace
Whitley Bay, Northumberland
SIR – It was kind of Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, to assure us there would be no gas shortages this winter. Yet it seems that, thanks to this Government’s negligent energy policy, the only person in a position to give such assurances is Vladimir Putin.
Nigel Cowan
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
SIR – Geological surveys have shown that we have substantial gas and oil reserves in shale that, with fracking, could satisfy our fuel needs for years.
Canada and the United States are both self-sufficient from this process, giving them confidence not available to those dependent on supplies from dubious regimes.
Richard English
Poundbury, Dorset
SIR – Shale gas will not answer our problems. Cuadrilla’s tests of their first Preston fracked wells did not yield viable flows of gas even when they far exceeded approved disturbance levels.
This is due to the low and variable permeability of shale and is more common than not. By all means let the Government support another try but I fear that the result will be the same.
VT Evenson
Didcot, Oxfordshire
SIR – As a matter of interest, who is making all the money out of the incredible surge in energy prices? The producers ? Or the traders?
Charles Pugh
London SW10
SIR – Which does the Government want us to do this winter – open the windows to increase ventilation and keep Covid at bay or shut the windows to conserve heat and reduce gas consumption?
Howard Pressey
Wolverhampton