Renewable energy sources - the good, the bad and the ugly

The only way that it would potentially be possible to quantify how much Scottish electricity is being sent to England would be splitting the Scottish demand from the English demand and then doing the same with production. Whilst Scotland does produce hydro power and wind power, it's contributions in terms of nuclear, coal have dropped with the closure/demolition of many power stations (Chapelcross, Cockenzie etc) so whether Scotland could be self-sufficient 24/7 is highly questionable. The whole point of having a national grid is that it is a balancing act. When demand spikes, be that in Glasgow or Chiswick, they can open the gates at Cruachan and chuck more power in (it is a fast start power station) - - later, when demand is extremely low that same power station uses power from the grid (possibly being powered by BioMass in England for example) to pump the water from Loch Awe back up to the storage reservoir.

There will be times when Scotland is definitely contributing more to the grid than it is using, but there are also times (such as when there is bad weather/heavy snowfall) when it is using more than it can produce. Also, let's not be under any illusions here - for every MW that gets produced, the power company gets paid and makes a profit. Indeed, for all of us there are so many companies making a profit along the way, it is no wonder our energy prices are so high.

Our grid is an ebb and flow situation that also leans on production in Europe (just as we can send power the other way if/when it is needed) via a couple of interconnects. Even if Scotland were to have it's own grid, I fail to see how it could ever be completely isolated. Building sufficient infrastructure to allow this to happen and allow sufficient spare capacity to cope with all weathers and all situations (brown-outs, black-outs etc) would cost an absolute fortune... given the Scottish Government's performance at building a couple of ferries I wouldn't let them near it.

This is quite an interesting site which shows what types of power are being used (including imports) versus consumption - G. B. National Grid status

 

It is not only the French government - we have similar here on petrol/diesel as there is the fuel tax added and then VAT on top, so you pay VAT on a tax and most of the price of a litre of fuel is tax.

Energy bills also include a levy (tax, because you have no choice but to pay it!) to allegedly pay for green initiatives... in truth, it has gone to the white elephant that is the smart meter debacle.

 

Smart Meters! Pah!!! . They still haven't persuaded me that the meter does anything useful that I can't do myself. I know how much electricity I use and how to turn the heating down and switch lights off. When and how I do it is a conscious decision I can make without referring to an idiot box on the shelf!

Of course, I'm a tech dinosaur and don't have new fangled 'smart' products. How much resources, energy and non-renewables go into the production of, and disposal of, these products?

https://assets.publishing.service.g..._data/file/904503/UK_Energy_in_Brief_2020.pdf

If you want to bore yourself silly you could attempt to work yourself through this! nothing to do with what I've said above but to do with power production and consumption.

 

Plan to subsidise wood-burning site with taxpayers' money is 'accounting trick', campaigners say | Daily Mail Online

 

How much carbon dioxide would 14 million trees remove from the atmosphere?

To be honest, that figure really scares me - I left Scotland in 2000 and have only managed to be home a few times since, so I dread to think what the countryside looks like now without all those trees.