CLIMATE change denial has become an increasingly rare opinion particularly in the letters pages of quality newspapers. It is possible that some deniers are emboldened to continue to express their erroneous views by a US Government badly lead by Donald Trump. Now William Loneskie (Letters, March 5) espouses a dismissive stance to climate change and claims that the switch to renewable electricity would reduce our economy "to medieval levels". This is totally incorrect, particularly if we act in concert with Europe.
The inference in the contribution from Mr Loneskie is that without fossil fuels to power human economies the continuation of our advanced, technology-based societies becomes impossible. Plenty of studies have been performed in recent years which easily demonstrate that this is not true. The power from the sun, which washes over our planet on a daily basis is more than enough to meet all of our energy needs if collected efficiently through direct solar methods, through wind farming, through ocean wave exploitation and through hydroelectric schemes. As has been detailed in a range of recently-published books, solar, wind and wave power, reinforced by geothermal, tidal, biofuel-sourced and clean nuclear power are well capable of supplying the energy demands of our modern world economies and it is our good fortune that this can be achieved by using technologies which are largely already in existence. Mr Loneskie may be interested to know that a technology which enables frictionless oil-free bearings could soon be applied to next-generation vertical axis wind turbines. In fact, levitated frictionless bearings could become commonplace in machines in the not-too-distant future.
What has been impeding progress toward renewables, until recently, has been the lack of political will to introduce capital investment commitments which will carry us away from fossil fuel dependency. The optimism that this could change was engendered by the governmental accords reached in Paris at the end of 2015. The Trump phenomenon has looked like a spanner in the works, but recent indications point to this being little more than a hiatus in the process, with minimal long-term effect.
If mankind is successful in making the transition, it is very likely that toward the end of this century our descendants will look back to the 20th and 21st centuries and wonder how their forebears could have preferred dirty fossil fuels for their energy needs when clean alternatives were readily available.
Alan J Sangster,
37 Craigmount Terrace, Edinburgh.
I AM surprised you printed a letter saying “there is no emergency. The Earth's climate has always been changing”.
It is scientific fact per the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that humans are causing climate change, and that we are in big, big trouble if we don’t act fast.
Discussion should be around what we do, not whether the problem exists – we are long past that stage. Publishing letters from deniers is not providing "balance", it’s providing excuses for delay, time that we don’t have.
Tom Barbour,
The Craig, Strathaven.
HOLYROOD is currently debating the Climate Change Emissions Reductions Targets Scotland Bill ("MSPS demand more urgency on eco targets", The Herald, March 4).
Germany has spent more money on renewable energy than any other European country. Electricity generation from wind and solar between 2011 and 2017 rose from 70 to 147 TWh (terrawatt hours, source BP), yet over the same period its CO2 emissions rose from 761 to 764 million tonnes.
France had the best energy system in the world. Its figure for greenhouse gas emissions intensity of energy consumption rose from 82.8 to 85 between 2014 and 2016 (source: europa.eu) even though its electricity generation from wind and solar rose from 23 to 30 TWh.
I implore MSPs to base their votes on facts and physics, not fantasy.
Geoff Moore,
Braeface Park, Alness.
THE public and industry should be made aware that £8.6 billion a year in green taxes is being wasted on futile attempts for Scotland (0.13 per cent of global emissions) and the UK (1.3 per cent) to singlehandedly save the planet.
The climate change lobby and those of a nervous disposition might want to look away now.
Some "Inconvenient truths": Drax received £789 million in subsidies in 2018 up from £729 million in 2017.
Fossil fuels provide 91 per cent of India's energy consumption.
Polar bear numbers are the highest ever despite Al Gore's tear-jerking predictions.
China (30 per cent) is planning to access its massive shale gas reserves in Sichuan province which holds the largest reserves of shale gas on the planet.
Do the green zealots actually believe other countries will listen to their strident demands to leave fossil fuel in the ground and rely on expensive, unreliable, unpredictable wind?
Clark Cross,
138 Springfield Road, Linlithgow.
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