Often when I give talks about globalisation, someone from the audience will ask whether the wealth-creation globalisation brings is environmentally sustainable. I say that it is because on most measures the environment in rich countries has been improving, and that over the next fifty years, the link between carbon emissions and economic growth will be broken. One easy way of cutting carbon emissions is by the greater use of nuclear power.

Yet environmental lobbyists from groups like Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace do not like this form of energy. That’s strange because modern nuclear power stations are so very safe that if terrorists were to fly and plane into one, the plane would bounce off, with no risk to anyone. The favoured energy source - wind - is a road to nowhere that won’t solve our energy or environmental needs. As Giles Chichester MEP, author of Living with Nuclear Energy, has pointed out (PDF):

In order to cope with the unpredictability and variability of wind generation, it is necessary to have reserve or stand-by conventional generating capacity to match and maintain balance in the system. That means running the additional reserve plant at reduced output which, in turn, means lower efficiency. Put another way, you have the cost of the wind capacity, plus the cost of the reserve capacity, plus the cost of the reduced efficiency.

Furthermore, the likely generation schedules arising from this mix are likely to increase overall emissions, hardly the hoped for benefit from windpower. In addition, a multiplicity of small-scale connections to the transmission system, (i.e. from hundreds of wind towers scattered over the countryside, each requiring it’s own connection), is likely to compromise the reliability and security of the national transmission system.

Greenpeace protesters can climb inside the roofs and protest against those who speak in favour of nuclear, but if they are serious about cutting carbon emissions, isn’t it time they came into the real world and recognised that wind isn’t the answer?