Hyperbole.
Yes: Coal, gas or wood are suitable alternatives to deliver the power we need. They tend to release carbon mind. Hippie power wont cut it. It simply cant generate the volume we need, today. If we are serious ( not just posing or being "right on") about climate change we need to do something and we need to do it now. Nuclear is the answer to our power needs. We should be building such stations now. Why is it that eco worriers are against it I wonder?
(We actually need both renewable and nuclear and we need them now. We need to stop burning fossils and pronto or we are in serious trouble!)
best read a bit more widely then.
I ask again why are eco warriors against what is a green transport system? I wonder if they would have as much care for "ancient woodland" if it was in Middlesbrough rather than the south. I doubt it somehow..............
Re 1. "Existential risks ... low-probability high-impact events..." from the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge University.
Re 2. Renewables can replace capacity in lieu of fossil fuels much more quickly than can nuclear, and without the carbon footprint involved in building nuclear plants (which further delays the time by which they start to make any net contribution to cutting carbon).
Re 3. I have read a bit more widely - DfT figures last year predicted that only 5% of HS2 passengers would be people switching from planes or cars (1% from air and 4% from cars). The idea that HS2 is a "green transport system" is not borne out by the figures: note the carbon intensity of concrete-heavy construction of this type on this scale. HS2's own figures show that after 60 years of operation, the project will still have been a massive net carbon producer - at that stage having "paid back", during its time of use (
including allowing for sequestration by tree-planting, and additional freight capacity on other lines) only between 1% and 2% of the carbon footprint of its construction (see, eg,
https://assets.publishing.service.g...tachment_data/file/828986/E27_Carbon_v1.2.pdf).
I will repeat that I think we have moved too far from the topic of this thread.