Guernsey should follow on climate, not be a leader

He raises some very profound points, particularly on the subject of climate change.

Guernsey is an island of some 65,000 people, which is a drop in the ocean in world terms. I suspect that the recent volcanic activity on the island of Las Palmas will probably have released more CO2 into the atmosphere than Guernsey has done this century.

The message could not be more clear. In world terms, Guernsey is insignificant and should not be trying to lead the way in carbon reduction.

It is correct that we should be as frugal as is reasonable with respect to carbon emissions but not at the expense of destroying the very way of life and our ability to survive in Guernsey.

Guernsey should be a follower rather than a leader in the fight against climate change and should follow the lead of the large industrial countries in technologies for renewables and low carbon solutions rather than trying to invent them ourselves. Whatever we do will be completely insignificant when countries such as India and China continue to burn vast quantities of coal and where we have absolutely no control over their economies.

We must not lose sight of the fact that Guernsey has a housing infrastructure which is largely of granite construction without cavity walls and very often without damp-proof courses. Such properties are very difficult to insulate to modern standards and, without underfloor heating, would be very difficult to adapt to heat pump solutions. Even if we were able to insulate every house in Guernsey and every office building and provide them with heat pumps, the electricity demand for the island would become enormous. That demand would be further substantially exacerbated by a change right across the island to electric vehicles.

At the moment, we have our own diesel powered generating station but it is of limited capacity and would require vast investment to supply the demand that would be put upon it by electrically heating all houses and electrically powering all vehicles on the island.

We do have electric supply cables and agreements with France but, as has been seen by recent events, France is proving to be a very unreliable partner and we should not put our future in their hands. They would undoubtedly, at some time in the future, blackmail us with a demand to take over all our fisheries. They simply cannot be trusted.

As a professional engineer, the only adequate solution that I could see for providing the necessary autonomous power supply to the island would be the installation of a mini nuclear plant such as those being developed by Rolls-Royce based on the power supply systems for nuclear submarines. One or maybe two of those would supply all the island’s future needs at a very competitive cost and free us from world markets.

Until that Utopian day occurs, the homeowners of Guernsey have to have a sensible way to heat their homes and that at the moment is provided by mainly diesel fuel boilers and some boilers fuelled by imported bottled gas.

They also in the winter rely heavily on open fires. It is inconceivable that the States could seriously suggest banning oil-fired and gas-fired central heating systems as well as the burning of wood and coal as that would put the island back into the Ice Age.

The planned proposal to progressively phase out internal combustion engine vehicles sounds like a great idea, but a considerable number of Guernsey vehicle owners are forced to have them parked on the street at night with no access to a domestic supply to recharge them.

Whether we like it or not, fossil fuels will be with us for decades to come as we are decades away from the aviation industry and the shipping industry being powered by anything other than fuel oil.

We should be responsible world citizens, but we should not virtue signal and try to lead the way in reducing CO2 emissions.

We should instead closely follow developments in the major countries and apply any such developments to this island once they have been proven.

But at the end of the day, as I have mentioned above, the only realistic solution for an independent power supply for the island would be the installation of one of the new mini nuclear stations.

Alternatively, why not buy a retired, disarmed nuclear submarine and use its power plant to run the island?

I am sure that it would be feasible to contract the Royal Navy to maintain and refuel the plant.

RICHARD WHARTON

Pleneuf Court

Rue de St Andre

GY6 8XP