XR ignores Japan’s rush for coal power

EXTINCTION Rebellion claim carbon dioxide emissions, as a result of human endeavour, are quickly bringing the planet to a climate catastrophe, so I wonder if they will be hoping Thunberg will organise a protest to castigate the Japanese intent of building a total of 22 – yes, that is correct – coal-fired power stations to replace its nuclear power plants.

In the next five years coal-burning plants will be built at 17 sites in Japan. It is claimed the 22 power plants would emit almost as much carbon dioxide annually as all the passenger cars sold each year in the United States. It would appear that only half the lesson has been learned, whereby the Japanese have sensibly turned their backs on the nuclear option – but why coal, when the modern, efficient, gas-fired power stations of the CCGT variety are relatively cheap and quick to build and emit half the emissions of coal-fired stations, especially when the world is awash with gas?

This, of course, is not to forget the coal-fired power stations being built in Germany, China, etc. so why were eco-activists digging up the lawn in front of the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on February 13? Were they looking for gold, or perhaps their geography matches their knowledge of science? It is also apparent that members of Extinction Rebellion have no sense of proportion either when UK emissions are less than two per cent of global emissions – could it be they are innumerate as well? Dave Haskell,

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Nigel Farage, British politician and leader of the Brexit Party, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference 2020 (CPAC) hosted by the American Conservative Union on February 28, 2020 in National Harbor, MD