Depending on who you believe, smart meters are either an essential weapon in the fight against climate change or a sinister means of over-charging and disconnecting poorer households.  The truth probably lies somewhere in between.  Nevertheless, according to the UK government, “Smart meters are here — and they put you …

Whether Donald Trump really believes that climate change is merely a Chinese hoax dreamed up to destroy US industry is a matter of conjecture; but his decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement is a fact.  And while some within his administration clearly do think that climate change is a …

Despite the upbeat propaganda put out by the fracking companies and repeated by the mainstream media, UK frackers are in serious trouble. In response to a freedom of information request by independent journalist Russell Scott, the UK government has released papers that show that the industry is unable to secure …

Barely a week goes by these days without someone claiming that this or that country ran entirely on renewable energy.  But these claims are more about lulling the population into a false sense of security than any realistic appraisal of either national or global energy use. Even Britain’s recent coal-free …

For those readers outside the small and rapidly shrinking BBC Today Programme demographic, the 7.50am Thought for the Day is the broadcasting equivalent of a Novocaine injection designed to anaesthetise listeners ahead of the intellectual equivalent of having a wisdom tooth removed that is the 8.05am political propaganda slot. Thought for …

While the 2008 financial crash finally exposed the infantile economic theories behind neoliberalism, most of its political claims remain unchallenged.  Key among these is the belief that somehow successive neoliberal governments have been “rolling back the state.” Ripping up so-called “red tape,” cutting taxes and providing ready access to finance …

While businesses and journalists readily understand (and often misunderstand) the idea of return on investment (“there is no magic money tree”) they seldom make the intellectual leap to apply the concept to the far more important area of energy.  Currency, after all, really can be printed out of thin air …

Every 40 year or so, it falls to the mass of the population, led by a politicised youth, to deliver a knockout blow to the prevailing economic/political consensus.  The affluent (neo)liberal classes are inevitably horrified when this happens, since it rocks the foundations of their comfortable way of life.  The …

Renewable energy is usually presented as the sensible alternative to domestic (fracking) gas.  However, in Britain at least, the two are essential components of the same suite of technologies.  This is because of the poor choices made by the UK government that force solar and wind energy to go hand …