The free market is a system of cooperation
for mutual benefit.

Last week saw the Parliamentary launch of the Home Heat Helpline  (0800 33 66 99). It is a free, not-for-profit advice service to help people who are struggling to pay their energy bills and stay warm this Christmas. In October 2006, the Helpline was initially launched by the Energy Retail Association (ERA) which is the trade association of the major UK energy companies.

The latest Helpline report shows that 3.5 million, or one in ten, households are eligible for some form of assistance, which works out as an average of £250 for each household. The Helpline have kindly provided data for the Wycombe area that shows 4,600 households are eligible which works out as 11% of the total. The help offered is not reserved for the elderly as many assume. It is available for families with young children, people with disabilities and long term health conditions.

At a time when energy prices are rapidly increasing and Parliament has recently debated on this topical issue, this service could be a welcome addition for families across the UK.

NB: this guest post is by Sophie Hirt, my Parliamentary Intern and the views expressed are her own.

Security is the key issue at the heart of the Government’s energy outlook and will impact on all the decisions made by the Department of Energy and Climate Change for the foreseeable future. Security, it must be pointed out, is not just meant in the traditional, physical sense, though of course, this is a top priority. Security in this sense must be taken to incorporate sustainability, affordability and efficiency.

The Coalition inherited a broken situation on energy from the previous Government. There was no coherent plan in place to ensure that future generations enjoy the same freedom to use electricity as we do, rendering the task ahead even more difficult.

Towards the end of the decade, demand will overtake supply – there will be a capacity gap that must be filled. In order to meet the rising electricity demand, the Government will need to spend £110 billion on infrastructure. In addition to this, the combination of methods of energy production must be decided upon.

Looking ahead, it is clear that new methods will have to be pursued. One third of coal generation will be lost by 2015 and most nuclear plants will close by 2023. Managing demand will require the Government to work in tandem with energy companies, in order to ensure both are working in the same direction. The Government has always had a rather strange relationship with energy companies – it needs them for energy production and supply but it also has a duty to regulate the industry and act on the behalf of consumers.

Among the anticipated spectrum of sources of energy will be solar, wind, geothermal, tidal, each to be pursued to a different extent. The Government must achieve the correct balance in order to maintain security and a plurality of recourses is thus necessary. An important aspect of Government policy will be local involvement and input into decisions. It is extremely important that sources of energy are not only appropriate to the local area but is also desired by the communities it affects.

It must not be assumed that there will no longer be a role for traditional sources of energy, particularly gas and oil. In fact, there may be a significant role for the use of gas as a capacity mechanism which will enable the UK to meet electricity demand, even when supplies fall short. The mechanism will be enabled by a permanent storage of energy kept back for use in exceptional times of demand.

Challenges ahead for the Department of Energy and Climate Change will be numerous. Such strategic changes to our energy supply will require delicate and at times very difficult manoeuvring around carbon reduction targets. Cost-benefit assessments will have to be made in order to achieve this much needed energy balance.

Here’s interesting. Cella Energy seem to be solving the problem of how to replace gasoline:

Cella Energy have developed a method using a low-cost process called coaxial electrospinning or electrospraying that can trap a complex chemical hydride inside a nano-porous polymer that speeds up the kinetics of hydrogen desorption, reduces the temperature at which the desorption occurs and filters out many if not all of the damaging chemicals. It also protects the hydrides from oxygen and water, making it possible to handle it in air.

Read more via Cella Energy – Our Technology.

This post originally appeared at cobdencentre.org.

Via FT.com, Ofgem urges a shake-up of the energy market,

Sweeping reforms of the UK’s energy market must be brought in urgently to protect energy supplies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deliver the £200bn investment needed in the power sector, the energy regulator said on Wednesday.

Ofgem said options for reform would include placing more stringent legal obligations on energy suppliers, and “improved market signals”, which could include a higher price on carbon dioxide emissions. More drastic options could include a centralised renewables market and a central buyer of energy for the whole of the UK.

Which all seems very well, until you realise that this is the fruit of an ideological aversion to the free mutual cooperation of individuals and corporations. Ofgem apparently tell us, “It would mean taking away the market’s role in delivering that investment.”

We need to make our minds up about whether planned or free economies can provide us with the means of our survival and prosperity. History’s answer is clear: planned economies cause misery and then collapse.

Further reading

• Living with Leviathan, David B Smith
• Moral Markets and Honest Money
• Ofwat, Water UK, the Consumer Council for Water and The Managerial Revolution (via stevebaker.info)
• XXXVI. THE CRISIS OF INTERVENTIONISM: The Harvest of Interventionism (via mises.org)

The Economist asks some very reasonable questions:

Thanks to its posturing politicians, Britain will soon start to run out of electricity. What should it do?

IN THE frigid opening days of 2009, Britain’s electricity demand peaked at 59 gigawatts (GW). Just over 45% of that came from power plants fuelled by gas from the North Sea. A further 35% or so came from coal, less than 15% from nuclear power and the rest from a hotch-potch of other sources. By 2015, assuming that modest economic growth resumes, a reasonable guess is that Britain will need around 64GW to cope with similar conditions. Where will that come from?

Read more: Britain’s energy crisis: How long till the lights go out? | The Economist.