Scottish Power’s commitment to ‘cheaper green energy’ a sure path to disaster

I write in support of the points made by Alan Thomson (Letters, 22 October) about the fallacious claims made by Scottish Power in their commitment to “cheaper green energy”.

The UK, and Scotland in particular, is sleepwalking to social and economic disaster by the headlong and misguided rush to remove all sources of carbon generation from our society.

Ed Miliband’s 2008 Climate Change Act put into law the foundations of the damage and from there the SNP have worked hard to outdo the rest of the UK on the road to folly.

Eliminating our entire carbon output would have a minuscule effect, almost zero, on the world’s total. This is all in pursuit of principles set by anthropogenic climate changesciencewhicharecontentious to many but are not allowed to be disputed, even by renowned climatologists.

If you think this is farfetched, try finding a reasonable, indeed any, counter argument on any of the BBC’S output. Climate changes on a continual basis but the manmade claim is far from proven.

Subsidies come from the UK as a whole: an independent Scotland would have to find the money on its own. This would be completely unaffordable,causingexponentially increased and utterly drastic levels of fuel poverty.

Also, as our last two nuclear powered generating stations are nearing the end of their lives, Scotland will then be completely dependent on elsewhere for our base load electricity provision. This is no small consideration: wind generation will not happen when we require it most, in winter anticyclonic conditions, when solar generation is also severely curtailed due to our short winter daylight.

Do not be fooled, the campaign to have smart meters installed in every house is not to do us any favours, it is about being able to give consumers the choice between accepting spot (ie higher) prices or being switched off at peak times when electricity generation is limited.

The SNP say there will be no sales of direct carbon-emitting cars by 2032. Ignoring the very major limitations of current electric cars but allowing that these will improve, the infrastructure is almost entirely lacking and there are no realistic plans to put it in place.

We are told home-charging of vehicles will be the way ahead. How will you charge your vehicle if you live in a block of flats or a crowded terraced street? Does anyone have any idea of the cost and disruption of providing a workable infrastructure for charging electric powered vehicles? The cost will be massive, running to many billions and can only be met through significantly increased taxation and/or huge cuts elsewhere.

Scotland’s and the UK’S energy policy is a complete shambles. However, we can all rest assured that when the lights are out, your car won’t work and offices are on short time, all of the people responsible will have disappeared like snowflakes in the sun, enjoying their generous pensions and saying “it wisnae me”. DAVID K ALLAN Hopper Gardens, Newcraighall, Edinburgh