The EU agreed to ration gas yesterday.
In the UK regulators are urging us to be careful with water because it is now in very short supply, with no sign that rain will fall any time soon.
Welcome to the world that those, like me, who have talked about a climate crisis have been predicting.
Welcome, in fact, to our future. The world we now live in is one where we can't any longer pretend that we can 'grow, grow, grow' without consequence unless the growth in question is entirely about the delivery of more face-to-face services, most of which can only be supplied by the state or as entertainment in its varying forms.
This is the reality of life now. You would not know it from Truss, Sunak and Starmer.
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The fundamental resource limitation is useable energy. With sufficient energy everything else can be done (eg desalination for water). The energy cost of key current fuels (fossil) is increasing as we deplete the easily accessible resources and anyway we need to transition away as fast as possible. Wind and solar energy cost is high by historic standards but lower than new fossil sources, but is slowly decreasing (ie improving) as technology improves. We’re going to have to learn to live with less, one way or another, for decades. The only way back to a high energy society I can see is fusion, and that’s decades away at scale at best. I see great opportunities ahead in low-energy activities such as yoga, storytelling, education and care.
It’s worth noting that the EU have not yet agreed to ration gas. The energy ministers have approved a draft law. It’s got a long way to go before we can say agreement to ration has been achieved.
Use of water is up since privatisation with more en-suite bathrooms, dishwashers etc but people on meters use less than people who do not. From well known sources *Customers with a water meter use 127 litres per person per day* while *Customers without a water meter use 160 litres per person per day*. If Thames and Southern can get another reservoir then it looks like this is a manageable problem and a little more liberal planning, regulation and pricing can help.
I can’t see fixing the climate being the priority, and even then we don’t know how to. Net zero leaves us where we still are.
In that case we had better find out how to fix the climate very quickly or the human race will not survive to the end of the century.
the UK is such a wet country that we *should* not have to worry about water shortages.
by that i mean that we could put the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure consistent water supply during droughts.
it’s just a question of deciding to build the infrastructure.
ditto energy.
the UK could reach a much higher level of energy independence by aggressively expanding on and offshore wind and tidal power. And when there are surges in renewable energy which aren’t needed, use that electricity to create hydrogen.
it’s just a question of deciding to build the infrastructure.
looking back at some of the infrastructure that the Victorians built, it’s quite depressing to think that had they had this prevailing mindset they would never have built it.
I am no expert in these things, but the earth has a high percentage of water.
Yes, I am fully aware that not all of this is usable, but I am sure that desalination technology has progressed over the decades.
Do you realise how much energy that takes?
Hi Mr Murphy,
Could you let us know which regulator you are talking about, please?
I’ve just been on Ofwats’s website and there’s no mention of a water shortage. A search led me to Anglian water who have an article prior to the hot spell asking customers to be careful with water, that just seems like normal water conservation techniques and doesn’t mention a shortage.
Thanks in advance,
Simon
Environment agency
Before the politicians get the wrong idea, it needs emphasising that it is the physical resources of the planet that have a limited supply.
In theory there is an enormous amount of energy available from the sun and wind and other renewable resources, and huge amounts of water, if only we create the infrastructure to create, collect and distribute them.
But, in the same way that we will not run out of words, or of centimetres, one thing that need never be in short supply is that notional unit of economic account – created and collected by the government – that we call “money”.
I find it interesting (and depressing) that so many responses to what is an entirely common sense observation (that the planet’s resources are finite, and that we must be more careful with them, and that indefinite growth is not sustainable) should be met with what I’d call the ‘starship enterprise’ response – that ‘technology will find us a way out’.
Like any tool, technology must be used responsibly. Our addiction to low cost energy / high water use / plastics / insecticides / artificial fertilisers etc. is rather like the American addiction to guns. It comes with rather obvious consequences, and creates far more problems than a more cautious and thought through (as opposed to market led) / less ‘libertarian’ approach would generate. But because we are addicted we seek any solution that ‘fixes’ those consequences, rather than the root cause. Like much of medicine, we ‘look for an extra pill’ rather than engaging in more exercise.
Unfortunately, without major cultural change, I suspect the ‘starship enterprise solution’ will not deliver before nature tires of us.
The Conservatives keep saying that investing in infrastructure or tackling climate change is creating debt that we are passing onto our children, which they argue is morally wrong. So much of our infrastructure was built by the Victorians and we have lived off the benefits ever since. Not sure they tried to use that Conservative ‘excuse’.
Current Conservatives seem quite happy to leave a run-down country and severely damaged planet to their children and grand-children. They won’t be thanked for it.
it feels futile arguing with them about it. i try and frame it in terms of national security and energy independence, things which seem to appeal more to them.
investment in efficiency infrastructure saves money in the future.
it’s like running a business and refusing to modernise and invest in new technology. we all know how that ends.
but still “HOW WILL WE PAY FOR IT?”
Four chapters written and two more in progress…..
Exactly – but then we have a huge problem with low investment in the private sector, driven as much of it is by the City and the demand to maximise short term returns to shareholders. Large amounts of cash being returned as share buy-backs, even when they have to borrow to fund them! Hardly surprising that we have a major productivity problem when the investments in skills, technology and R&D that would deliver them are not being made.