SUSTAINABILITY, ENTROPY AND RISK
June 9, 2010The world is on a once off transition to sustainability. I often ask myself the question: what does sustainability mean? For me it is ultimately about humans being able to grow, thrive and ultimately leave Earth to colonise elsewhere. It is about civilization and its ongoing ability to provide a societal mode of behaviour based on for instance the values best expressed by Confucious. We in the West have evolved a fine civilisation emanating from the ancient Greeks but refined ...
On Delivering a Speech
June 8, 2010Having recently made a speech during which a fair number of people walked out, I decided it was high time to write down some guidelines for myself. Of course I will have to stick to them then! A speech is not an essay, or a song, a play or a dirge. It is the public telling of a story that attempts to convince an audience of your point of view. Like all stories, it must have a beginning, ...
Supergrid
April 30, 2010I would like to return to a subject that I have often spoken about before. The subject is the Supergrid. Those who are familiar with my history over the past eight years will know that I consider this issue to be one of the most important. What I had not realized until very recently is just how relevant the Supergrid is right now. By its very nature it is going to take some time to construct the Supergrid. ...
Wind: The cheapest solution for electricity generation in South Africa
February 12, 2010Continuation of the theme that wind and other renewable power sources reduce the cost of providing an electricity service. Firstly let me say that the debate sparked off by my last blog is most welcome. That different opinions exist is known. What is happening now is that they are being expressed in public and the people will be allowed to judge for themselves as to the merits of what each has to say. I will be in South Africa ...
Renewables are expensive, we all know that
January 21, 2010Mr. Brian Dames the COO of Generation in South Africa’s ESKOM said that “renewables are expensive, we all know that. We are a moderate wind country and we will exploit that”. The record of ESKOM in exploiting wind or any other renewable is among the worst in the world. They haven’t done any new renewables. There are no commercial wind farms in South Africa. The energy plans drawn up by Eskom, with no critical inputs from elsewhere, shows a ...
Those who live in Glasshouses…
January 15, 2010An article appeared on the Financial Times on Thursday 7th January. It argues that nuclear is the cheapest low carbon electricity source. The article was written by Vincent de Rivaz, CEO of the French owned EDF energy, which plans to build at least four new reactors in Britain at a cost of around £20 billion. In particular, the claim was made that nuclear is the cheapest large-scale low-carbon electricity source. There can be no question that nuclear generates electricity ...
A record of change
December 22, 2009There are many books and articles written on the management of change. I myself have had to participate in and to lead change in organisations. It is never easy. The most commonly heard phrase is “that fellow over there really needs to change, me, I’m ok.” Since biblical times it has always been easier to remove the mote from one’s neighbour’s eye than remove the beam from my own shoulder. History is a study in and a record of ...
Climate Summit at Copenhagen:
December 22, 2009The following quote is from one of the documents I receive every day, “Nopenhagen, fiascopenhagen, slowpenhagen, COP out, flop COP, bad COP, the great disappointment. Call it what you will, but under no reasonable interpretations did the climate conference in Copenhagen (COP15) end as a success.” On the surface this is what happened, but……… It is a good thing that the medium is the message. It is hard to believe that 130 world leaders were assembled in Denmark, ...
Support Mechanisms
December 21, 2009The world has tried many experiments with different support mechanisms. We see the renewable obligation system in Britain, we see tax based schemes in the U.S., we see the fixed price feed in systems of Germany and most other countries. All are designed to reduce the risk for developers and to make sure the plants can be funded. All of the support mechanisms have a limited duration. Eventually renewable generation finishes up reducing the price of electricity. Denmark ...
Why Support Systems for Renewables
December 14, 2009When a new technology like wind energy or solar is being introduced into an electricity system it always needs support. If it’s that good I hear you ask, why does it need to be supported? It’s a fair question. Firstly wind energy is never introduced by the current providers of the service, ie. the electricity utilities. It is always introduced by Governments in support of some goal which is not shared by the utilities. This goal could be ...
