To Carbon capture or not?

So Hunterston power station with carbon capture plans has been rejected by the local council.

I’m not actually sure how I feel about that. One less coal fired power station can only be good but at least they were proposing doing something about emissions. For those of you not in Scotland, my sympathies of course, you probably aren’t aware there is a plan to retrofit carbon capture at Peterhead power station as well. Unfortunately the greenest government ever ( pre-election promise of the current cowboys) stopped a plan at Longannet on cost grounds and I fear Peterhead will go the same way.

In the meantime efforts to encourage small scale home production of electricity have been dampened by withdrawal of a subsidy to give extra payment for excess sent to the National Grid and Scotland is growing wind turbines faster than midges can breed.

The cost of power and fuel continues to soar, its still a case of taking your life in your hands by cycling, and hydro-electricity is not classed as renewable energy.

I live on the Northeast coast, supposedly in the driest place in Scotland, and can confirm from personal experience the one thing we are certain to renew is water!

It is getting wetter and whether you subscribe to Type I slowly warmer and wetter or Type II sudden and abrupt, or even the European mini ice-age theory, every single model says where I live will be wet.

There are hundreds and hundreds of small streams, all cheerfully following the hydrological cycle, burbling quietly out the bogs and off the hills, nearly all of whom could support a multitude of tiny generators humming quietly and producing a couple of kilowatts per 200 metres, shipped out by discreet underground cables, but policy dictates mega schemes owned by the big 6 power companies and the import of LPG by tanker from the Middle East. In addition we are driving massive power cables through the middle of some of the best scenery in the world. Apparently its all for the greater good, but you can’t help wondering if the greater good is actually profits for the energy sector.

I’m a great one for quoting Orwell as I firmly believe 1984 is being used as a blueprint, but maybe we should be looking more to Asimov and his Foundation series. There the premise is that the Galactic Empire has become so large and so fixated on massive projects it is crumbling from within. The heroes of the piece think small and make do with limited resources. Could there be a lesson for us all?