I was delighted to hear this as I think the cost is too high for EDF, and could bring down their company as well. None of it makes economic sense, and the plant has so many problems in other places that it is too big a risk.
I was reading that Germany are now producing Hydrogen with their excess electricity from their wind farms. I think Hydrogen is a very useful thing to make as it can be mixed with bio-methane for the gas grid, and it can also run fuel cells. It is a great way to store excess energy. We could run power stations on a mix I suppose.
What would be more exciting is to get the smart grid operating instead of building Hinkley. I also want a V2G adapter for my new Mitsubishi PHEV. They are available in Japan, but not in the UK yet.
In an emergency my car can charge a 10kw battery with under two litres of petrol, which would be handy to keep the freezer going! I think V2G ought to come as standard for electric cars, and a special tarrif system set up for people with them so they can be used for grid balancing.
I also think that the UK ought to start a completely new energy industry and keep it nationalised. We have had so much of our infrastructure sold to foreign investors, we sold off the Crown Jewels in many cases. I would far rather see one energy company with one set of tariffs.
Jersey is is in this position having only one provider. We buy our electricity from France, and the rates are clearly explained. We want the investment in our infrastructure, and a reliable service. We do have generator capacity for emergencies and all this has to be kept in working order. We pay 14.8p peak. 10.8p off peak, and 7.8 E7. That's it!
I would rather be a smart user, and given a better way to save on using electricity than have to keep swapping tariffs. I bought a new chest freezer a couple of weeks ago, and now I am ready to swap from my rather delapidated upright, I am mean enough to wait until off peak starts tonight to get it cold! I have insisted we put our washing on at night, and as the dishwasher died a couple of weeks ago, got one with a timer so that can go on off peak as well.
I am going to have a think about swapping to the economy seven tariff completely, and what is involved, as we need the comfort heat tariff for winter as we have storage heaters. However if there is no cost to swap from comfort to E7, perhaps the ideal solution would be to change tariffs during the year, when we don't need heating, but want all the benefits of 7.8p per unit overnight to charge the car and run the machines.
Hmm... There must be a way!
The other thing I decided to buy this week was a two ring gas burner. Our house is all electric, and although we have a gas BBQ I decided this would be a good addition to contingency planning. We already have a spare gas bottle and adapter so it was only £30 off Amazon. I can use it in my craft room for projects as well.
As Germany and a few other countries are telling their citizens to get with emergency planning, I have also started a stock of tinned and bottled foods. My husband thinks I am being a doomsday thinker!
I also want to get a stock of first aid stuff. I am wondering how I can justify buying a galvanised dustbin and making a faraday cage. If it's not a big CME, it might be some kind of pulse that freaks out all our electronics one day soon! Nice to have them still working if we needed them.
Jersey has asked islanders to stop buying products with microbeads in them, I hope everyone just stops buying them. The exfoliant I use has ground walnut shell in it instead. I also have some loofah for washing up which are very good. It's not that plastic is completely bad, just how we dispose of it, and get it all in our ecosystem.
I know no one reads all this stuff, but somehow just by writing it it seems to be 'out there'.
I am praying we all start making better choices for each other's sake, and the beauty and abundant life this planet gives us.
Something is not right with the world. The Moon doesn't look right any more, The night came down so fast yesterday it seemed we were on a different latitude, and the sky just doesn't seem the right shade of blue. I noticed yesterday the shadows had a purple tinge to them instead of a blue tinge, and the sunlight hitting the chimney tops looked more of a lime yellow. I can't put my finer on it, but the colours just look dull and flat. It's as though there is something changing the way I see the colour spectrum. I wonder if there is something being geoengineered in the atmosphere.
Perhaps it would be better to be blissfully unaware of these things!