I want to reduce my carbon emissions but my radiators are jammed on all the time and my plumber has disappeared…

 

By  Julia Stephenson

 

A new generation of nuclear power stations in the UK has been given formal backing by the government. Those of us opposed to nuclear energy are often accused of longing to return to a dimly lit stone-age style past but I don’t know any greens who want to live in a cave, indeed have never yet met this green yeti anti-progress person that the pro-nuclear lobby keep talking about.  Most of us just want to live within our means to ensure survival.

Personally I'm opposed to building nuclear power stations because they are dirty, dangerous, and expensive - the Government's failure to find a long-term solution to Britain's nuclear waste problem remains an important reason not to create more waste by building more reactors.

Plus we haven't even scratched the surface what solar, wind, tide and wood energy can do.  Also more emphasis must be put reducing the energy we use in the first place.  We could reduce emissions by over 60% without any loss in comfort or wellbeing.

 

Besides, as Green MEP Dr Caroline Lucas explains, 'nuclear power could only reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a mere eight per cent - that's not much more than could be cut overnight by regulating to prevent six per cent of UK electricity being used to power machines left on standby.'

We've become so accustomed to guzzling energy it's second nature.  In high streets all over Britain shops keep their doors wide open no matter how Arctic the conditions outside, and position their heaters right by the door in a desperate bid to attract debt-ridden shoppers to buy more stuff they don't need.  Supermarkets heat the aisles but then use vast amounts of energy to freeze their chiller cabinets, which are kept wide open.  Think of the energy they'd save if they covered the cabinets. OK, it might make punters think twice about impulse buying but most of us buy too much food and are far too fat anyway. 

 

But of course it's unrealistic to expect supermarkets to willingly do something that might reduce sales.  If the government are as keen as they say to reduce carbon emissions they must legislate to make it happen.  They can't rely solely on the goodwill of businesses and individuals.

 

The trouble is this eco-profligacy is repeated in homes and offices worldwide.  Our society has built itself on the belief that energy is a bottomless resource.  And if we build nuclear power stations there will be no incentive for us to stop wasting energy.

 

At this point I must come clean and admit my own part in the energy crisis.  I live in the top floor of a Victorian house which has, horrors, communal heating over which I have no control.  My saintly neighbour Chuck runs the house and controls the temperature.  He is from Arizona and favours tropical temperatures - I fear I could fry an egg on his floor quite easily.  My requests to turn down the heating to a more British string-saving temperature fall on deaf ears. 

 

You'd think I could turn my radiators off but due to the complexities of our Victorian heating system I can only turn off half of them.  My man with the spanner (aka S) has tried but tells me the system must be 'drained', which means all heating and water must be turned off for the entire house for a day.  My neighbours will have a fit. Not only that but our knee-tremblingly handsome plumber Bob, the only man in the world who understands the house's plumbing and can do this terrible 'draining', has just come back from his sumptuous holiday home in Tenerife and decided to become a fireman.  I anticipate fires being lit by ladies all over Chelsea in a bid to stay in touch with him.  Perhaps I should just burn our house down and start again.  It would be a lot easier.

Still, I am determined to persevere and come spring will inveigle super-handy S to have a go.  I can't fight nuclear energy unless I do my bit in reducing my energy needs.  I must confess I am rather dreading the draining.  But we must all do our bit. 

PS: I don't want to bang on about Bob but he really is quite extraordinary.  He once mended an air-lock in my heating system by sucking one of my taps so hard that the water whooshed up from the basement and - hey presto - my water was running again.  Really, he will be wasted as a fireman.