Date published: 2006/03/16
The BBC says:
London mayor Ken Livingstone is set to call on Prime Minister Tony Blair to abandon plans for a new generation of nuclear power stations.
In a speech at the annual Greenpeace lecture, he is expected to say that decentralised energy is the solution to many of the UK's energy problems.
Previously, a government advisory panel said that creating more nuclear plants would not help to tackle the issue.
The government is currently undertaking a review of Britain's energy needs.
As North Sea supplies dwindle, nuclear power is seen by some as a more secure source of energy than hydrocarbon supplies from unstable regimes.
Proponents say it could generate large quantities of electricity while helping to stabilise carbon dioxide CO2 emissions.
But Mr Livingstone will set the case against nuclear energy, claiming it is dangerous and expensive, BBC environment correspondent Roger Harrabin said.
He said Mr Livingstone will urge the government to turn to decentralised power generation.
It works by trapping unwanted heat from conventional gas power stations and using it to warm homes, schools and swimming pools.
Conventional gas power stations waste around 40% of energy by creating unwanted heat.
By capturing this heat, decentralised power would save around 20% of greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is a more expensive form of energy.
Mr Livingstone has signed a contract with an energy firm to make London a world leader in decentralised energy, Mr Harrabin said.
Well the usual suspects of course do not like nuclear power. But at least combined heat and power has some plausibility as an alternative. The fact that "it is a more expensive form of energy" tells you straight away that in fact it is a less efficient form of energy, with the only possible justification being that with an appropriate carbon tax it works out as better when the total sums are done. Needless to say, one wouldn't trust a politician like Livingstone to have done the sums properly. This is really all just part of his attempt to claim power over national policy where he has no mandate.
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