Energy Is Everything

There's ferocious argument playing out between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak about who the next Prime Minister should be. Dripping with supporters equally convinced of the righteousness of their case both Sunak and Truss have 'answers' to the financial crisis. Both propose short term fiscal stimulants, both advocate improving the NHS, both are strong on defence, and both want to fiddle with our taxes. Sadly, both are wrong on almost every count. Both are thinking tactically (important, short term, vote winning) but neither even hints at a strategy (long term, really important 'vision' stuff).

Look back in history, look across the world, what is the common factor that makes for better, cleaner, healthier, more stable societies - the answer is access to plentiful, affordable, clean energy.

The historical perspective for us in the UK is clear: between 1760(ish) and 1820(ish) the UK made a great leap forward in the period we now call the Industrial Revolution. A huge increase in population stemmed from the mechanisation of hand production techniques, from new chemical processes and the manufacture of the new wonder material, iron. Despite notable failures, the health of the nation improved markedly during this period and all of this colossal change was driven by great inventiveness and by widespread access to energy; from the benign use of water power, to the more potent but more damaging steam age - with its atmosphere polluting legacy just starting to rear its ugly head.

From poor arable farmers in Africa, to the ever expanding mega cities of the first world, all require more energy to improve their circumstances. Fuel for fires and fuel for furnaces, it's all essentially the same stuff, and we need more of it, and we need (urgently) to make it cheaper and cleaner.

Are there ways to achieve this trick of more for less? There certainly are. And, here's the rub, it's not even difficult. By applying a sustained political focus on the problem we could derive enough energy from already established renewable technologies to utterly transform our nation.

Here's some staggering facts:







When the Sun doesn't shine and the Wind doesn't blow

A frequent cry of those opposed to renewable technologies is that Solar only works during the day - and often not even then in the Winter - and despite all the wind turbines across the North Sea their energy output sometimes drops to zero. These are genuine problems and should not be dismissed lightly - we simply cannot afford to run out of energy. However the answer to the intermittent delivery of energy from renewables is at hand with dozens of new energy storage technologies coming to market. Here are just three front runners:



By comparison with the Lithium Iron batteries that power the current generation of electric vehicles, Sodium Iron batteries are heavier and earlier versions store less energy per kilogramme. But these new batteries are much cheaper to make, have a longer life, and are far 'greener' (Lithium is a particularly nasty thing to mine and often comes from the Congo and China).

The good news is that a world leader of this technology is here in the north of England with a company called Faradion pioneering the use of Sodium Iron batteries in grid energy storage systems.



The world's first liquid air energy storage plant is being built in Manchester. It will use surplus electricity from wind farms to compress and liquefy air. When energy is needed back in the grid the liquid air is simply allowed to expand and drive a generator.

This first experimental storage plant will hold enough energy for roughly 50,000 homes for five hours. And it is a relatively simple and cheap technology that could be scaled up and deployed across the country.

The plant is installed and run by a UK company called Highview and is backed by £10 million of Government money.



A remarkably simple technology that sounds too good to be true (but isn't) comes from Finnish company Polar Night Energy. By simply heating sand - completely normal dry sand - to 600°C and storing it in an insulated container, the heat can be slowly extracted for days, weeks and months. Storing spare energy from renewable sources during the summer and using during the winter is eminently possible.

The advantages of an energy focus

If the UK makes a substantial commitment to both renewable generation and clean energy storage we could see a reduction, or elimination, of our current £70 billion annual importing fuel bill.

And that reduction really can be delivered. Rather than being political hyperbole this has the potential to be a hugely positive and recurring saving. Not only would it greatly improve our balance of payments, it would have a radical impact on our energy security. Further savings would come from the transformation of the air quality of our inner city environments - with consequent reductions in NHS bills and improvements in quality of life. Really, what's not to like.

So, I would argue, energy should be the primary and frankly overwhelming focus of our next PM. All the rest - all the good things that make us civilised - will flow as a direct consequence of this single minded strategy.

Unfortunately, neither candidate has even mentioned the subject.

There's a real-time analysis of green energy production across our region, updated every 30 minutes, on our Scitech page.