Energy

An interesting report (reference 2) from the IEA (reference 1) turned up today, highlighting the importance of Russia as a supplier of oil and gas and offering a ten point plan for reducing our dependence thereon over the next few years.

With the ten points being:

• No new gas supply contracts with Russia
• Replace Russian supplies with gas from alternative sources
• Introduce minimum gas storage obligations to enhance market resilience
• Accelerate the deployment of new wind and solar projects
• Maximise generation from existing dispatchable low-emissions sources: bioenergy and nuclear
• Enact short-term measures to shelter vulnerable electricity consumers from high prices
• Speed up the replacement of gas boilers with heat pumps
• Accelerate energy efficiency improvements in buildings and industry
• Encourage a temporary thermostat adjustment by consumers
• Step up efforts to diversify and decarbonise sources of power system flexibility

Plus, if pushed: Going faster and further – additional fuel switching options in the power sector. Doing bad things like bringing coal fired power stations back online.

The IEA appears to be a club of energy importers, mainly but not exclusively European and near European, but including at least two producers, Norway and the US. No idea how much sway the IEA has in the world of energy, but links with the European Union look to be strong, which is not surprising given its membership.

A plan which looks sensible enough, but which is going to need concerted action at national and supra-national levels to get moving; not something to be left to the market to sort out. So we will see how long it takes the free market and national sovereignty loving Tories to grasp this particular nettle.

PS: it does not like a good time to be replacing our ancient but presently reliable gas boiler with a new gas boiler. Heat pumps may not be here yet, but electric boilers surely are, even if they are a bit expensive. Plus, I am not sure about the electricity supply to our boiler position, that is to say next to the cooker, in the hole where there was probably once a coal or coke fired range. My arithmetic suggests that a 10KW boiler would need another 40 amps, so while there is 60 amps for the cooker, I don't suppose that line could cope with a new boiler too - and a new line from under the stairs across to the kitchen would no doubt add several hundreds, not to say a thousand or so, to the cost. 

References

Reference 1: https://www.iea.org/.

Reference 2: https://www.iea.org/reports/a-10-point-plan-to-reduce-the-european-unions-reliance-on-russian-natural-gas.