These pages set out our wider thinking on issues relating to innovation, governance and practice for a sustainable, secure and affordable energy system.
New Thinking
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New Thinking Blog: The Solution to Rising Bills is Demand Reduction and Courage in Leadership
The Solution to Rising Bills is Demand Reduction and Courage in Leadership Tom Steward, IGov Team, 25th October 2013 About Tom: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/tom-steward/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steward_T The nights are drawing in, leaves are changing from green to gold, and energy suppliers are announcing price hikes. Along with animals disappearing into hibernation, energy price rises have become what looks to be a permanent sign of the start of winter. This week, Npower and Scottish Power joined British Gas and SSE by announcing this years’ price rises. With bills reaching record levels, leading more and more households into fuel poverty[1],
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New Thinking Blog: The Nuclear Announcement – a Pyrrhic victory?
The Nuclear Announcement – a Pyrrhic victory? Catherine Mitchell, IGov Team, 21st October, 2013 About Catherine: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Catherine_Mitchell There are many interesting points about the much trailed nuclear announcement today but the ones I find particularly interesting is that regarding the 10% return on investment and the various issues which still have to be agreed, including the EU decision on State Aid. The latter is unlikely to be agreed in the next 2-3 years so today’s announcement is a political mirage. In brief, and in non-legal language, countries should not favour certain parties and distort competition
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New Thinking Blog: Energy Transitions and Technology Scale
Energy Transitions and Technology Scale About Richard: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/richard-hoggett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HoggettRD Last week it was reported yet again that the potential deal between the government and EDF for the UK’s first new nuclear plant was near, with a suggestion that a strike price of £93/MWh had been agreed. In the same week DECC put out an updated PV roadmap showing an ambition for up to 20GW of new capacity by 2020, with a new solar strategy due in 2014. These are two very different technologies, operating at different scales that have different implications for the way the
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New Thinking Blog: Green Energy Costs and Competitiveness
Green Energy Costs and Competitiveness Matthew Lockwood, IGov Team, 8th October 2013 About Matthew: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Matthew_Lockwood Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatepolitics Two narratives about energy (especially electricity) and the UK versus the rest of Europe commonly do the rounds in the British energy debate. One (typically promoted by ministers across the coalition) is that, apparently due to our superior market-led policies, we have much cheaper energy than the rest of Europe. The other, often promoted by energy-intensive industries and most recently by George Osborne last weekend, is that ‘green’ taxes and levies are being piled on to energy costs, threatening
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New Thinking Blog: The Freezing Gamble – Corporate and State Power in the UK
The Freezing Gamble – Corporate and State Power in the UK Caroline Kuzemko, IGov Team, 26th September, 2013 About Caroline: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Caroline_Kuzemko Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarolineKuzemko Ed Miliband’s plan to freeze electricity prices for 20 months is an out-and-out electoral gamble. Labour researchers have clearly picked up on the social issue of rising energy costs and are using these concerns for electoral gain – rumour has it that focus group approval ratings for the price freeze were ‘off the scale’. But there is another question at stake here – that of power relations between the big six energy
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New Thinking Blog: Managing the Political Nature of Energy
Managing the Political Nature of Energy Catherine Mitchell, IGov Team, 25th September, 2013 About Catherine: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Catherine_Mitchell Britain is now in the unexpected position of having the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties all agreeing on the need for nuclear power. Lib Dem delegates overturned their historic policy at their recent conference and supported a motion to allow new nuclear power plants as long as questions on safety and cost are answered. Given that the arguments against nuclear power are becoming stronger rather than weaker this was a political vote rather than one based on
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New Thinking Blog: There go 1 million fuel poor: How new measurements solve fuel poverty
There go 1 million fuel poor: How new measurements solve fuel poverty Caroline Kuzemko & Tom Steward, IGov Team, 25th July 2013 About Caroline: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Caroline_Kuzemko Twitter: https://twitter.com/CarolineKuzemko About Tom: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/tom-steward/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steward_T Last week our coalition government produced a policy review of fuel poverty – marking a departure both from previous methods of measuring who is fuel poor and from previous policies. When Labour had come to power in 1997, although little else changed with regard to the direction of energy policy, attitudes towards fuel poverty did shift. This became clear
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New Thinking Blog: The Structural Barriers to a Sustainable Economy – what the political parties have to overcome
The Structural Barriers to a Sustainable Economy: what the political parties have to overcome Catherine Mitchell, IGov Team, 16th July, 2013 About Catherine: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Catherine_Mitchell In this weeks The New Statesman Century, I argue that the British energy system has developed six characteristics over the last century which raise concerns for Britain’s ability to successfully undertake the transition to a sustainable economy: (1) our centralised energy system; (2) the dominance of a few large companies which expect to make money selling energy; (3) the laissez fair market orientated policy paradigm, including our system of regulation, which undermines
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New Thinking Blog: The (German) tortoise and the (British) hare
The (German) tortoise and the (British) hare Matthew Lockwood, IGov Team, 1st July 2013 About Matthew: http://geography.exeter.ac.uk/staff/index.php?web_id=Matthew_Lockwood Twitter: https://twitter.com/climatepolitics This blog first appeared on Political Climate: http://politicalclimate.net/2013/06/28/the-german-tortoise-and-the-british-hare/ I have been looking at long-term trends in grid electricity carbon coefficients (i.e. how much CO2 is generated across the whole electricity system to produce a given amount of power). This is a good overall indicator of the sustainability of the electricity system in a country from a climate point of view, and is determined by the fuel mix. The trends for the UK and Germany since 1990 (shown
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New Thinking Blog: Fracking on (the) Horizon
Fracking on (the) Horizon Tom Steward, IGov Team, 25th June, 2013 About Tom: http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/igov/people/igov-team/tom-steward/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Steward_T Last week’s episode of the BBC’s Horizon set about making the case for fracking – investigating ‘what we in Britain can learn from the American experience’. If the programme is to be believed, we seem to be able to look forward to all of the benefits, with none of the draw-backs that come with investment in fracking. Call me cynical, but I’m not entirely convinced. Horizon’s story began with a visit to a shale drilling rig in Pennsylvania, with
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