Setting a ‘green’ example is cold comfort to the vulnerable

HAVE the green energy policies Britain has introduced actually added to global emissions instead of reducing them?

Have the billions of pounds spent on importing and installing thousands of windmills been a waste of money?

Was closing down our huge coal mining industry unforgivable and a colossal mistake?

Has the continuing escalation of energy prices due to these measures inflicted totally unnecessary misery on individuals and businesses without any benefits to the world’s environment?

Britain contributes only 1.6 per cent of global emissions. If we could totally eliminate all of these emissions, which, of course, is impossible, it would not have the slightest impact globally.

Yet we have embarked on policies which have no connection with reality and which are costing industry and every one of us a huge amount of money.

When an expert on green energy issues was asked to comment on this his only response was to say that Britain was setting an example for other countries to follow. So now we all know, we’re paying for the privilege of setting an example! Sadly China and India, to name just two countries, do not appear to be listening, or indeed, have any desire to listen.

The energy costs from green policies have led to many of our products becoming uncompetitive, leading to the closure of many businesses with the manufacture of these products now being done by countries such as China and India.

But, these countries are not bound by or are interested in emission targets which so 
restrict our companies. They pollute the earth’s atmosphere in far greater amounts than we ever did.

Giving them more and more of our work actually results in increased pollution and makes the minute savings Britain spent so much money on achieving totally irrelevant.

A grim picture of our very productive coal-fired power stations has been painted by the Greens; they are dirty nasty things responsible for global warming, they say, and must be closed down.

Yet, as of April 2012, Britain had only 14 coal-fired power stations, compared with around 2,300 worldwide, 600 of them in China, which has built many more in this last year alone.

In contrast, we believe 
spending £700m converting Drax power station to burn biomass instead of coal is a giant step forward.

Transferring manufacturing to other countries contradicts all the claims that we are “saving the planet”.

And what about the suffering which “green” energy taxesis inflicting on our citizens?

Once again it is the same people who are most vulnerable: the elderly, the retired, the unemployed, the stay-at-home housewife and children, and those who are off work through illness.

These people do not have the comfort of several hours each day of warmth provided by an employer, they are at home, a home which they have to keep warm all day. Their bills for this will be astronomical and will be beyond their ability to pay.

What comfort will they take from being told they are helping to set an “example” for the rest of the world to follow?