Is Clean British Coal Viable to Mitigate Global Warming?

The current febrile political atmosphere negates rational discussion. I have thought about this question. I argue YES.

Pre is necessary but amble does come. I promise.

The most obvious global example of bitter division exists contemporary America.

In the US the utter failure of the Democratic Party to learn from its past is aiding and abetting the return of POTUS 45.

Trump is set to emulate only Grovner Cleveland in winning two non consecutive terms in the White House. And Queen Victoria was on the throne then.

Like Putin in Russia Trump has identified the issues of post industrial dislocation in the Rust Belt.

He has married this blue collar disaster to hatred of the perceived east coast elites. Weaved in is the fear of immigration and a strong resurgence of Lindbergh style 1930’s isolationism.

The Democrats have failed blue and white collar America.

Bernie Sanders new book, “It’s OK to be Angry About Capitalism” explains why far more eloquently than me the current situation.

But Sanders is good at pointing out problems. The issue is this. Because he has no grasp of class politics. The only answer Bernie can come up with is mitigation. If everyone hates the MAGA dominance of the GOP loudly enough then they will give up and America will enter Utopia.

Shouting from the sidelines is a great laugh. I still remember how much I enjoyed it.

But to be totally honest we did get people interested and held mass attendance events in, and outdoors.Following through with this and building as mass movement can be done. And will be. But it’s hard. And often very demoralising.

But we need to begin to move away from the hi jacking of progressive ideas by the very system we oppose.

The Climate Emergency created by the Anthropocene era in Earth’s history is a prime example.

The obsession with electric vehicles is a case in point.

The Government wants an end to new petrol vehicle sales by 2030. The stated ambition is their elimination by 2050.

Great. Pats on the back all round.

This is fantastic news if you live in a place where it is possible to park one, let alone charge two cars.

All the places we lived in between 1989/99 would have been completely unsuitable. Firstly getting a parking space nearby was impossible.

Then everyone who lived near us would have wires stretching everywhere. No good if you’re disabled or want to walk the dog.(Not a euphemism).

We lived in first floor flats. How’s that meant to work?

Policy is made by people who don’t face these basic issues. Or if they did, they’ve forgotten about them.

Unless you live in London, public transport is a joke. They pulled the buses after 6pm to the Western suburbs of Hull, so Cled, my Guide Dog and I had to rely on lifts. Public transportation here in the rural Highlands is non existent.

There is a large swathe of the UK public who would be up shit creek.

Imagine a miracle. I know but bear with. Everyone can charge their car with no hassle. Hooray! Happy days.

Where is the actual electricity going to come from? The lowest minimum figure I can find is that an extra 40% power will be required.

On the BBC Radio Four Today programme last week, an, “energy expert” opined that the Grid will need up to double capacity to cope with EVs. Sadly I didn’t get his name or organisation. You’ll have to trust me.

Googling is a futile, and time consuming waste of human life.

First off you have to navigate planted adverts. Then there are websites full of dubious statistics which have paid to be higher on lists. The right wing Centre for Policy Research take a bow.

Eventually I uncovered a press release from the National grid from 2022. The laptop and the window were about to have an unsolicited meeting. Damn you Dr. Tait with your research flim flammery. At last..

“Electric cars are forecast to create extra 18GW demand. National Grid predicts peak impact equivalent to capacity of 6 nuclear plants by 2050.”

“Other issues we identify are the need to install the low-voltage local power networks that connect homes to substations, and to anticipate the uptake of fast-chargers, which draw more power from the grid.”

Let’s face facts. We are not a Society that is prepared to wait. “I want my car, and I want it now!” As Jim Morrison didn’t say.

Where do we get our power from now? Luckily the Grid has a daily update. Today is the 20th March 2024. Let’s have a peak. Dark green is good in terms of emissions Red is err.. is bad.

Scotland is 100% zero carbon due to wind, water and over the last few days, solar. Hard to believe regarding the sun. But true.

London.

Shocking. This is being added. Like inflation it never goes down. It just increases less slowly.

Today is average for the UK. Not cold, not hot. Sunshine and showers.

Here’s the whole UK situation.

These statistics are updated daily and freely available. To nerds. Guilty.

Apart from the obvious terrible emissions, London imports a staggering 29% of it energy. .

The what if’s are self evident. Perhaps the most worrying is our exposure to geo political instability.

Another renovation problem facing the UK and indeed the Globe is related to Coronal Mass Ejections (CME).

The last one was in 1859. These events have potential to destroy electricity and batteries. The last Governmental meeting for which I can find minutes took place in 2014.

Because this utility is in private hands there is reduced scrutiny. And if we need more capacity it won’t be the shareholders writing the cheques.

“A major report on the impacts of a major solar storm by the US National Research Council estimated the fallout from such an event at “trillions of dollars” and put the recovery time at “4 to 10 years”. (Guardian report 21/09/23)

Given the Climate Emergency and the very real threat of a CME destroying the Grid, what options are there for the UK?

I have pointed out the problems working class motorists are going to face with Electric Vehicles (EV). But here’s another startling proposition.

On 23/12/23 I read a report in my pinko wishy washy liberal elite rag, (The Guardian) which gave food for thought.

Volvo, one of the major EV innovators reported that manufacturing of these cars costs 70% more emissions than petrol ones. The main problem being mining and transportation of battery materials. Especially cobalt.

A progressive move would be a return to sail powered shipping. This industry produces 6% of emissions. About the same as air travel. How about solar powered aircraft? Backed up with err actual engines.

Now for the wailing and grinding of teeth.

Clean British Coal can ensure energy security. And provide cheap and plentiful power. Plus nullify our carbon output.

According to Statista, an organisation often quoted by the UK Government, vehicles are responsible for 10% of CO2. The dirtiest transportation unsurprisingly comes from the HGV sector. By investing in rail and canals we can effectively curb this problem.

The steel would be produced by a carbon neutral process which was slated for Port Talbot. Tata is adept at taking Government cash, but now plan to leave the UK market.

Good. Now we can invest in UK steel based on expert worker led Co Operatives.

Now for some input from the Intergovernmental Energy Agency

They said in 2022 that ‘achieving a swift reduction in global coal emissions is the central challenge for reaching international climate targets’.

On 19th April 2013, The Guardian reported that the first Science Graduate to be UK prime minister, Margaret Thatcher had intervened during 1983 to kibosh the holy grail of mining. Clean coal.

The issue of eliminating sulphur and nitrogen dioxide had been dealt with. Just compare pictures of London in the ‘fifties to the 1980’s to see the difference.

In 2006 I sat down at a Labour Party Climate Conference. The organiser was a 17 year old with terrible hair. 18 years on Danny Marten and I are still firm friends. Our partnership became something legendary in left wing circles. We organised loads of great electoral and issue based campaigns. And managed to be having life saving treatment at the same time as publishing a book.

A Labour MEP, who was on the EU Climate Change Governance Board got up to speak.

“This County is sitting on a three hundred year supply of clean energy. The neo liberals and their obsession with cheap, ill educated cafe bar labourers don’t want you to know this”.

David Bowe then gave us a science based presentation. He explained that most European coal is low quality lignite with a terrible environmental impact.

Yorkshire has the good fortune to be sitting on a thick seam of high quality, high yield coal. It ducks down very deep after the Pennines. What wouldn’t to avoid Lancashire. It then reappears in Pensilvania and the so called rust belt region of America.

Carbon capture compresses and can be pumped safely into the vast caverns of the North Sea left by oil and gas production. Simply turn the pre existing pumps around.

Allied to re newables we have achieved zero carbon,

The new generation of miners would not be in the danger of Conor’s great grandad who died in the Gresford Welsh mining disaster which left my dearest father in law Les, without his Dad at just 7.

These jobs will be high skill, high wage and above all safe. They can be the springboard for a second UK manufacturing revolution. Green steel for an expanded and re newed people’s railway system, canal network and revolutionised way and standard of living.

High quality, cheap housing for our young people. Money for research and development of agriculture, re wilding and creating William Blake’s dream of the UK as a, “Green and pleasant land”.

I can’t wait.

A