Starmer's vision quest

[PurplePenguin]

This is an incredibly well put together overview of the policy approach to Net Zero. I can't help but feel Labour needs to do much much more to help educate people around what the target actually means for us, not just environmentally but also the massive economic implications (far more so than AI and crypto boll****).

https://iandunt.substack.com/p/guest-post-labours-net-zero-triumph

It's a bit of a labour puff piece. Yes, it acknowledges previous governments, but any large scale renewable energy connecting today has nothing to do with the current government.

They have made some successful tweaks and helped to bring forward future renewable energy projects.

The other factor that the article completely ignores is the grid, and there is no greater significant issue to decarbonisation than the grid. Labour have brought in grid reform, but it has been slow and has resulted in a delay to the delivery of renewable energy. The argument is that things will speed up in the future, so it is not all bad, but equally it is not all perfect, and it remains the case that they need to build more transmission networks.

It's also the same problem in most countries, so to be a world leader, massively improving grid infrastructure is what is required.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Yes, I am referring to AI. I thought that I had made that perfectly clear in my follow up post.
For the record, I agree with you. Except for AI being a bubble. The financial bubble will burst but AI is here to stay.

If the financial bubble bursts and we discover it has all been propped up on sand, how will AI survive that in any meaningful way?

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

It's a bit of a labour puff piece. Yes, it acknowledges previous governments, but any large scale renewable energy connecting today has nothing to do with the current government.

They have made some successful tweaks and helped to bring forward future renewable energy projects.

The other factor that the article completely ignores is the grid, and there is no greater significant issue to decarbonisation than the grid. Labour have brought in grid reform, but it has been slow and has resulted in a delay to the delivery of renewable energy. The argument is that things will speed up in the future, so it is not all bad, but equally it is not all perfect, and it remains the case that they need to build more transmission networks.

It's also the same problem in most countries, so to be a world leader, massively improving grid infrastructure is what is required.

The politics of it aside, the main argument is for the transformative nature of clean energy, to help the environment, economies, geopolitical instability etc. If countries around the world get their act together and do make the necessary changes, including grid infrastructure, then surely clean energy has the potential to be far more beneficial to people and the planet than pretty much any other technological advancements we can make?

 

[PurplePenguin]

The politics of it aside, the main argument is for the transformative nature of clean energy, to help the environment, economies, geopolitical instability etc. If countries around the world get their act together and do make the necessary changes, including grid infrastructure, then surely clean energy has the potential to be far more beneficial to people and the planet than pretty much any other technological advancements we can make?

Yes. Not sure anyone sensible disagrees.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Yes. Not sure anyone sensible disagrees.

A fair few seem willing if they get paid enough!

 

[Pblakeney]

I think PB is falling into the trap, which is an aim of the right wing anti-green-agenda, of persuading people that everything is hopeless, therefore there's no point in doing what we can and fighting back or taking the wins where we can. In the former, I'd put AI (at least the way it's being framed at the moment), and in the latter, 'Net Zero'.

As for AI, I think there is growing resistance to the way it's being oversold and the way the industry is not only trying to get all sectors to get hooked on it, but then to accept massive actual and environmental costs. It's still early days, but I think the industry is trying to recoup its investment much too quickly from the customers they've hooked.

As for Net Zero, well, even the maths is starting to add up on that, and the Iran episode has come at the right time to further cement the political benefits of not being hooked on oil.

Quite the opposite. If you read my first post this morning I said that we need green energy, and with AI we will need much more.
I am saying that AI will reduce the benefits of green energy, not that we shouldn't chase green energy.

 

[Pblakeney]

If the financial bubble bursts and we discover it has all been propped up on sand, how will AI survive that in any meaningful way?

People expecting to become/remain billionaires will become millionaires.
The genie is out of the bottle and it is not going away.

 

[Pross]

It's a bit of a labour puff piece. Yes, it acknowledges previous governments, but any large scale renewable energy connecting today has nothing to do with the current government.

They have made some successful tweaks and helped to bring forward future renewable energy projects.

The other factor that the article completely ignores is the grid, and there is no greater significant issue to decarbonisation than the grid. Labour have brought in grid reform, but it has been slow and has resulted in a delay to the delivery of renewable energy. The argument is that things will speed up in the future, so it is not all bad, but equally it is not all perfect, and it remains the case that they need to build more transmission networks.

It's also the same problem in most countries, so to be a world leader, massively improving grid infrastructure is what is required.

One of the big problems is that even more people (including those who support the actual renewable generation infrastructure) object to the new transmission lines especially as they usually have to go through the most scenic parts of the country. Any drive through mid Wales will include passing placards against pylons.