Bet you didn’t expect that!

14th Nov 2016

 

Well that was a surprise. How many of you would have predicted that outcome? Can’t believe what happened? That’s right, I’m not referring to the next President of the United States but at the first working meeting of Carbon Connect’s “Future Gas Series” all three politicians from the UK’s main parties were in agreement.

Yes, Labour, SNP and Conservative MPs all agreed that there was a long-term future for the gas grid. Now these are still early days, and the research project has yet to begin in earnest, but those politicians got it.

The task now is to clearly present the evidence that supports this view because not everyone agrees. At a recent meeting with the Minister, she asked “why do my officials keep telling me heat pumps are the answer?” Well, our honest answer was “we don’t know why” – which is true, because they are not the answer to decarbonising heat, but they are part of the answer. There is no single solution and perhaps if that is acknowledged, it will be a good start.

If we accept there is no one solution, and those technically/financially impractical excluded, we will be left with options that are viable and need to be explored to determine the extent to which they form part of the solution. This mind-set needs to be adopted by government officials too, otherwise they and only they, will be to blame when things go wrong.

I genuinely believe that industry gets the need to help politicians achieve the targets that they, not industry, signed up