LETTER: Energy security is important

The foolish outcry regarding eyesore windmills is predictable, but for our local councillors to turn down a planning application on such grounds is unacceptable. Do these people who object to windmills prefer fracking, because that is the alternative that our unrepresentative government is now pursuing. Such a policy would be far worse than any eyesore perceived by the objectors.

Solar panels have been extremely successful for those who have been able to install them. I was reading a survey in the Salisbury area the other week which stated 80% of those who had installed them had covered household energy requirements and half of them were also receiving rebates for the excess energy they were feeding back into the grid.

Imagine this extended throughout the country and suddenly the need to generate electricity drops dramatically. But of course our government does not subscribe to such ideas.

The other source of energy that is both cheap and very reliable is tidal power. Twenty-two out of every 24 hours the tides are in motion, governed by the greatest generators of all – the sun and the moon. It is a relatively simple operation to create tidal plants to harness this power and we are blessed with a wonderful coastline full of possibilities for such undertakings.

If we were to combine with Ireland and Scotland the potential for energy generation is almost unlimited, so much so that we could become a net energy exporter to the rest of Europe. This is something the country could unite around and indeed become a world pioneer and technological leader in, not to mention the number of jobs of a long term nature that would be created.

If we could build a “mulberry harbour” in the Solway Firth and float it down to the coast of France as part of the D-Day invasion during the darkest days of the Second World War, then we have the innate potential to undertake such a project – and this would put the Great back in Britain!

The possibility of an economic collapse of unprecedented proportions looms large. The effects of such a collapse would be catastrophic worldwide and create despair for the majority. But if people keep their heads and remain objective then we might just be able to survive what is to come.

The only thing to fear is fear itself!

CHRIS JOHNSON

Atkinson Street, Colne