Reliance on goods from polluting countries makes net zero a nonsense
SIR – It is extraordinary that our goal is to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 (“Major nuclear power plant in PM’S plans”, report, October 18). Most people don’t believe this is possible, and in any case while we continue to buy goods from heavily polluting countries we can’t claim to have achieved it.
The difficulty of reducing global emissions is much more complicated and profound than the soundbite of net zero implies. As the Queen, in an unguarded moment, so aptly said of those not attending the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow later this month, too many “talk but don’t do”. Peter Taylor
Sidmouth, Devon
SIR – Having experienced energy shortages as a child in the 1950s and worked in the British energy sector from 1969 to 2016 (with coal and gas but mainly nuclear), I have lived through many governments’ energy policies and ministers.
At each election, my first port of call in party manifestos is energy policy.
That is more important than anything else. If there is no energy, there is great risk to health, defence, education and supply chains. A political party in power when the lights go out will be destroyed at the following election.
I gave evidence to a select committee on engineering, and that experience led me to conclude that our Parliament, with the possible exception of the House of Lords, is almost devoid of the engineering knowledge needed to realise the risks to our country and to choose solutions, now even more essential to combat global warming.
I only wish that the Government would commission the professional institutions to work together, perhaps led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, to rescue us from this entirely foreseeable situation. Michael Grave
Consett, Co Durham
SIR – I have used three public charging points in the six months that I have owned an electric vehicle (“Pace of car charger rollout must double to hit targets”, report, October 17). Two of these, one at a supermarket and the other at a hotel, did not work. It does not matter how many charging points are installed if the infrastructure is not there to keep them operational.
The third was at a motorway service station. A car was plugged in, with the owner presumably having a cup of coffee near by, and another car was waiting. It was an 11Kw unit, so it would have taken six hours to charge our car with a near-empty battery. Surely in 10 years’ time everyone stopping at a service station will want to put their car on charge while they have a break.
Having made a random check at three stations on the M4, I found that one has six points – none of which are suitable for our car – and the other two have only one suitable point each. The problem is exacerbated by the proliferation of different connections.
We do indeed have a long way to go. Hugh Evans