June 3rd 2009
Yet another long gap but I have been writing papers for conferences and could not face writing anything else. I am not the most disciplined when it comes to routine, and I include ‘blog’ writing in this. Perhaps I should try to be brief (haha) as a way of being more regular in my comments. Listening to the radio this morning two things struck, not counting the daily tales from the ‘river bank’ at Westminster. Entertaining as this is, although somewhat repetitive, I noted the Reeth Lectures this year which seems to be in tune with my thinking. Starts next Tuesday and sounds like it will be good value. Secondly a piece on energy; CHP, combined heat and power to be precise. The Governments fixation with scale is really becoming a problem. Denmark was mentioned as a country that has small local power stations that supply their waste heat into the community. This is a no-brainer as are so many of the relatively simple solutions to so many problems we face. So what is the barrier that prevents it happening? In the case of energy it is short term profit for the large energy companies and the Government need for BIG solutions.
The suggestion that we have to go for a giant power station because it is only at gigawatts that you get the greatest efficiency is complete rubbish. 35% electrical efficiency means 65% waste heat into the atmosphere. Also what about the grid loss, which can be considerable, because we insist on a national grid as opposed to local grids. As an alternative I would suggest two or three small power stations in an area running on appropriate fuels (for Lincoln it might be waste, straw and biogas from human sewage) to cover for breakdowns and downtime with the heat used to heat swimming pools, houses and in industry. Also why are we using gas to produce electricity!!!! It is a primary fuel and a limited natural resouce. For goodness sake we have already wasted most of our own North Sea gas. This should have been used as direct power for heating and cooking eventually just cooking as supper efficient houses negate the need for heating. Furthermore energy should be under local community control, not international energy companies, with balance of supply, use and pricing.
This scale fixation also has implications for social enterprise. I received a copy of a grant notice yesterday to support in two stages Third Sector organisations to assess opportunities to collaborate and then to form consortia or merge. Why is big good? Why for that matter is it supposedly more efficient, cheaper and easier to manage? Is it not simpler to trust local managers to contract as they and their communities see fit? Is it not better to allow local unique solutions to local unique issue? Is it not better value to get the added value, cross departmental solutions that small and holistic local organisations offer? Does this not allow ‘faceless beaurocrats’ to actually become engaged and passionate about being part of the solution rather than a gate keeper and barrier.
Time for change.