Energy and the Common Purpose – a Book Review

On the surface, the issues of climate change and peak oil call for very similar responses. It is, after all, about reducing the use of fossil fuels. However, there are differences, highlighted in the Government’s recent announcement that it will begin a new programme of nuclear power plant building. On the face of it a good solution to climate change, it brings the UK’s carbon emissions in line with international agreements and business-as-usual can continue. From a peak oil perspective however, it is no solution at all. Nuclear power plants take 20 years to come on stream, peak oil is estimated for sometime between now and 2010. Our transport based economy needs cheap oil, not nuclear power. Running the nations cars on hydrogen made from nuclear power would require 100 new nuclear power plants, not the 10 that are proposed.

Thinking about both climate change and peak oil requires new thinking and new mechanisms. David Fleming’s “Energy and the Common Purpose” is an excellent example of new thinking in response to a new problem.

Energy Bulletin