Oil protesters just say ‘no’ to new licences

I FEEL the need to dispel a few myths from recent letters supporting Rishi Sunak’s U-turns on Net Zero.

We are in transition, so we don’t need renewable energy to power the grid on its own.

Renewables are doing a very good job of reducing our use of gas for energy generation and CO2 emissions.

By also adding energy storage, we can replace even more gas with clean options.

Just Stop Oil is not aiming to immediately stop the use of oil and gas – they are saying no new licences. This is in line with the advice from UN bodies that make it clear that we have enough oil and gas in existing fields to meet our needs if we prioritise decarbonisation.

We can reduce our reliance on imported oil and gas without new North Sea licences. As well as more renewable energy and energy storage, we should be insulating existing homes and mandating that new homes meet better energy standards and are fitted with solar panels and heat pumps. This should be the priority as it reduces household costs, gas imports and carbon emissions.

Modern, well implemented heat pumps can comfortably deliver tap water at 55C. They can be quieter than a boiler and, although you run the radiators for longer, their efficiency makes them cost effective. The savings would be higher if we had more renewable energy and a fairer electricity pricing model.

Using last year’s figures, only

12% of car sales would have been affected by the ban on the sale of new cars with internal combustion engines. The rest were second hand or new EVs. This demonstrates that the transition to EVs will be slow whenever we start it. The date should have been kept to encourage innovation and investment and to boost the second-hand EV market.

Sue Nicholson Sidmouth, Devon