Brace yourself for the return of rationing

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expressman33
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Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by expressman33 » Mon Aug 08 2022 7:41am

Russia is turning off the cheap energy. That is already leading to belt-tightening, says Matthew Lynn. Who will suffer most, and which sectors will thrive? https://moneyweek.com/economy/605189/br ... dium=email
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Re: Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by blythburgh » Mon Aug 08 2022 9:26am

Went into the corner shop and there was an empty space where Fairy washing up liquid should be. Sorry said the part time assistant they (the owners) could not get any at the local cash and carry (owned these days by Tesco). But I have half a bottle so can wait as I always keep a good store cupboard.

Yes, I could buy it today in Tesco or another quality one but if I do not buy from the corner shop it will not be there for the thing I want immediately.
Keep smiling because the light at the end of someone's tunnel may be you, Ron Cheneler

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Re: Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by macliam » Mon Aug 08 2022 9:31am

The issue is not that we are being impacted... it is why. We are being impacted because the government has chosen not to invest in energy infrastructure, other than windfarms. We decided to import gas and even electricity..... and now that world prices are rising, we are hit. We decided not to store gas, beause it was "cheaper" to buy on the spot market...... key word "was". We have huge additional costs added to our bills, not least to pay for multiple private providers and the costs of their failures. The whole situation is akin to the financial crash...... decisons made in the past suddenly turn sour when the outside world changes.

And what are our future plans? To allow a foreign public utility to build and run a new nuclear power station - and pay through the nose for the energy it produces.
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Re: Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by jaytee » Mon Aug 08 2022 9:35pm

We need to invest further in renewables. We've had a great summer, and I have been almost self sufficient on the energy produced from my solar panels. BUT sunshine and winds are weather phenomena and whilst we have had a great summer in most parts of the UK, neither wind or sunshine can be guaranteed.In my opinion, we need to invest further in Wave Power. We need to develop in a material that is resistant to the corrrosive effects of salt water, and then plough ahead with investing in Wave Power. Afterall, we are not guaranteed a specific number of sunny or windy days (albeit a reduced level of solar enrgy is generate in cloud) we are guaranteed the tides will rise and fall twice as day, and we are an island, so in a graet position to maximise this energy.

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Re: Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by blythburgh » Tue Aug 09 2022 10:58am

We did have more gas storage but a Govt. (cannot remember who or when) got rid of some of it. As wise a move as Gordon Brown selling some of our gold.
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Re: Brace yourself for the return of rationing

Post by macliam » Tue Aug 09 2022 1:21pm

The failure to exploit tidal power is truly indicative of the lack of foresight by successive UK governments.... particularly when France has had the La Rance barrier generating 500GWh since 1966 and the known potential of the brackish Severn estuary. The problem is that the sale, not only of the energy retail companies, but also of energy generation and transmission, has left the UK energy sector entirely in the hands of private companies - so no government wants to invest. far better to pour billions into a rail scheme that fails to provide any benefit to the majority of the population.

The UK needs to be investing in the major capital-intensive issues in the energy sector. The most important is not the generation of green energy, but storage..... because green energy is transient. Battery storage is expensive, generally requires rare metals and has a defined life-expectancy, but alternatives require much greater investment. Equally, the production of "green" hydrogen and the creation of a transmission network is not something that a fragmented private energy sector will underwrite. The production of green hydrogen by green energy is the prize for self-sufficiency - stored energy available at any time, independent of imports and produced without pollution.

It wasn't a government that stopped gas storage (though they did nothing to stop it), it was Centrica, that big beast of a privatized monopoly, and it was only in 2017. Their rationale was that imports of LPG from Qatar had made such storage "uneconomic", i.e. they could make more profit elsewhere.... There were warnings at the time that the move would make the UK vulnerable, but hey-ho, too many unicorns for the government to hunt.

The comment on Brown's sale of part of the gold reserves really shows the power of the Tory press to embed their messages in the public psyche. The "loss" was notional, not real, and in line with many other countries, because the gold price had been stagnant for many years and there were "better uses" for the value tied up in the reserves. Gold prices then jumped and the legend was born.... Interestingly, the notional value "lost" pales into insignificance alongside the real money lost in "track and trace" and Richboy Sunak's failure to hedge UK debt against inflation......
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