Electric vehicle charging points; tell us the truth about their effectiveness as part of green energy audit – Yorkshire Post Letters

I LIVE in a rural area with a dearth of EV charging points, and drive a diesel pickup which also tows trailers, so I have no intention of purchasing an electric or hybrid vehicle any time soon.

‘Insulate Britain’ must define energy security policy as ‘poverty premium’ scandal grows for homes with prepayment meters – The Yorkshire Post says

However, in the light of some reports I’ve read which cast doubt on the true ‘greenness’ of electric vehicles, is it not now time that some totally independent body with no axe to grind, or shareholders to keep financially happy, does a transparent and open study into the pros and cons of all forms of energy and the vehicles that use them?

Perhaps also, an independent report on the renewable energy industry including how green is the production process of things such as wind turbines and solar panels, the damage done to the land installing them and how disposal of old ones impact the planet. The majority of information on renewable energy comes from sources with a vested interest. A really independent study would show us whether or not we are being misled about all this just to further various interests financial gain.

From: Charles Wardrop, Viewlands Road West, Perth.

TWO of your readers’ letters (The Yorkshire Post, March 25) call for the UK to help prevent the planet’s climate change using two means. First, decarbonisation and, secondly, an end to oil mining and fracking so as to reduce our manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) release.

These readers would be very disappointed by realisation of these objectives because the UK’s output of greenhouse gases, including manmade CO2, is negligible at less than 0.1 per cent of the world’s total.

Also because, from recent scientific findings, CO2 is not the “villain”. It is therefore the wrong target to aim at in attempting to influence climate changes by curtailing its output.

The main climate controllers are, as reported from Canada by Lightfoot and Ratzer, not CO2 but, rather, solar activity, cosmic rays and atmospheric water vapour, all of which are quite outside our influence.

At the moment, moreover, since the Sun’s activity is in decline and entering a ‘Grand Solar Minimum’, we can anticipate, starting within all our lifetimes, steady planetary cooling for many decades or centuries.

The enormous costs of the Western world’s decarbonising can therefore now be safely avoided. The big greenhouse gas and CO2 emitters in the East are, rightly, not really trying.

From: Rosie Rogers, Head of Energy, Greenpeace UK.

FOR decades ‘big oil’ has been fuelling the climate crisis in full knowledge of its catastrophic consequences. It’s clear these companies have a faulty moral compass, so it should come as no surprise that they kept filling Putin’s coffers as he pursued his deadly imperialist dreams from Ukraine to Syria.

There’s not just an environmental imperative for the UK to get off fossil fuels but a moral one too. Only by massively scaling up renewable energy and rolling out a nationwide programme to green our homes will we end our dependence on gas and its spiralling prices. If not now, when?

From: William Loneskie, Oxton, Lauder, Berwickshire.

THERE is no “climate crisis”, climate emergency” or “climate breakdown” as recent letter writers have claimed. The Earth’s climate has always been changing and will continue to change long after humanity has disappeared from the planet.

The predictions of the alarmists have been proved wrong so often that sensible people are tiring of them. In March 2009 Prince Charles said “we have less than 100 months to alter our behaviour before we risk catastrophic climate change”.

If Britain were to shut down tomorrow for 100 years, it would not make a jot of difference to climate change. Let’s get drilling for more oil and gas and let’s get fracking under way. And instead of importing coal for our industries let’s mine our own.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

SURELY I am not the only person to have noticed that those bleating loudest on TV about energy bills are sitting in front of the camera in T-shirts? Surely they should be making some effort themselves to keep warm rather than relying on the UK taxpayers?

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

THE Chancellor has had a rough ride in the media over his Spring Statement, but let’s not forget Rishi Sunak is in a no-win situation. Due to matters beyond his control, such as the war in Ukraine, his room for manoeuvre is limited.

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