Lord David Frost, the former Brexit minister has voiced significant concerns regarding the nation’s chosen path towards achieving net zero emissions.
In a speech delivered at the Global Warming Policy Foundation to an audience in Central London last night, Lord Frost expressed doubts about the viability and potential damage associated with the current approach.
Lord Frost said: “I am going to argue that the route we have chosen to deliver net zero is inevitably wasteful and damaging; that it is totally implausible that it will boost growth and much more likely that it will reduce it; that as a result governments are pursuing completely incompatible political and economic objectives, but will not be able to do so forever; that when the crunch comes they may well double down on further economically damaging measures in order to meet the goal; and, therefore, finally, that people like me must prepare for that moment when we will need to try to get onto a more rational path with a rethink of net zero methods and, almost certainly, timetable.”
He continued: “In Britain, we will soon be making people buy inferior and more expensive boiler technology and driving many out of the new car market if they aren’t prepared to take a punt on electric vehicles.
“House designs are increasingly constrained and indeed energy efficiency requirements are squeezing the whole housing market. Most egregiously, we are forcing investment in windmills, a technological breakthrough when first mentioned when Henry II was on the throne, but less obviously suited to providing power on demand today, given that we have so far found no solution to the intermittency problem other than maintaining a back up network of gas and coal-fired power stations.
“The battery storage technology does not exist, hydro storage can’t be developed on anything like the right scale, and hydrogen remains costly and unproven. Moreover, it is surely obvious that renewables plus back up will be more expensive than just the back up.
“Despite all these problems, many seem to believe that the solution to our problems is just to keep building windmills until we have “enough”.
A government spokesperson told ELN: “Safeguarding Britain’s national energy security is a key priority for the government. Delivering cheaper, cleaner and more secure energy to drive down bills goes hand-in-hand with meeting our net zero goals.
“The UK is displaying global leadership, successfully bolstering our energy security following Putin’s attempts to weaponise energy, and cutting emissions faster than any other G7 country while keeping the economy growing.”
