As gas price rises sting us all again - it would be very easy to get sucked into the idea that if we found and drilled out our own fuel right here in Northern Ireland it would somehow be magically cheaper.
But with everything that’s gone before on benefits, Brexit and so on - I can’t help but feel Stormont is trying to sell us another unicorn with their gas based "dirty" Blue Hydrogen and continuing push on gas.
And I have a few reasons for that train of thought.
You see, as much as we have government regulators and overseers and price watchers - has it really done any us little people any good when it comes to filling the oil tank, topping up the gas or even filling the motor?
No - and that’s because governments have no control over the market - which is there to make the sellers as much money as possible because that’s how good old capitalism works.
And the proof my friends is in the pudding.
Fossil companies have a product to sell - and they really seem to be able charge whatever they want no matter how much of your income you now spend on keeping warm.
I remember the days when lorry drivers blockaded roads as the price of fuel threatened to hit £1!
But look at us now - they keep sticking in the boot in and we are so worn down with the rising cost of just about everything that we just stand here and take it.
Another gas hike – can’t be helped they say when there’s not a lot to go around.
We’re told the vulnerable, elderly, young are going hungry as they use what little money they have to try and stay warm.
Meanwhile, the government tells us that the sticking plaster is letting companies drain the oil and gas below our ground.
But how on Earth is that going to help any of us?
First off, it won’t be the government doing the drilling but companies still out to turn profits from selling us polluting fuels for as long as they can lobby our governments to let them.
Secondly, they can’t control the market no matter that unicorn of an idea they’re trying to sell us.
And thirdly, we are precisely where we are because of their failures over the past 10 years.
They cut the funding to insulate our homes and improve energy efficiency, which could have saved us a small fortune on oil and gas.
Arlene Foster announced in 2012 that we would have smart meters in our homes by 2020 to help us consume less electricity - but that idea was soon consigned to the scrapheap.
Meanwhile, the government went about installing gas pipes to the west while other nations started pulling theirs out.
Our old homes are in dire need of energy efficiency upgrades, we need solar panels on our roofs, we need glazing that actually keeps the heat in and we need community based energy solutions that will keep the bills down for us all.
We watch as politicians make all sorts of promises on the climate and it’s no wonder people take everything they say with a shovel of salt as they roll out this rubbish about drilling more oil and being a world leader on blue hydrogen - which is made by burning 20% more gas than if you just used the gas.
Germany has poo-pooed it – and we should too.
That’s just my humble opinion - but a very interesting thread I happened across on Twitter from Richard Black of the BBC, has only served to bolster my view that while they tell us one thing - another completely different thing is what’s really going on.
So while the fossil fuel industry says we need continuing extraction for energy security and politicians, including our own Economy Minister jump on that bandwagon, UK Energy Statistics show from September to November 31,975 GWh [Giga Watt hours] of gas was exported.
That’s about twice that exported in the same three months of 2020 [15,830] and 2018 [16,439] and still significantly less than 2019 [19,633].
You see while we are paying handsomely for the gas to heat our hot water and warm our radiators - companies with gas to spare are exporting it out of the UK to the highest bidder so this idea we don’t have enough, is not what the problem is at all.
Yet there’s Boris and all his cronies doing little to help us free of our costly fossil fuel shackles.
Our government’s first train of thought should be ‘how do we get our people cheap and clean energy’ that isn’t costing them the Earth - not how do we help our fossil pals stay in the game.
Keep those energy bills at the forefront of your minds when our politicians are knocking on the doors.
What we need is insulation and energy efficient retrofits and a move to electrically heated homes that in time can be powered totally by solar and wind.
Make sure they hear you out.
Do you know any green heroes?
Live Here, Love Here is searching for green heroes who’ve made their community a better place for everyone to live in.
So, if you know someone who is always walking the roads picking up after litter piggies, a school or community group that has gone all out to make NI a cleaner, greener, less polluted and more sustainable and biodiverse place - or even a special someone doing their bit in the climate emergency, they want to hear about it.
The deadline to nominate someone for the 2022 Community Volunteer Awards is Valentine’s day, so you’ve plenty of time to think about who you’d like to nominate for loving the world around them - and sharing that passion with everyone else.
You can even list a business if they are registered with the Adopt a Sport programme.
Submit your nomination at https://www.liveherelovehere.org/communityawards.
Climate protesters taking their campaign back to Stormont
I HEAR on the grapevine that a few tractors may be visiting Stormont on Tuesday as the latest peaceful protest for a strong Northern Ireland Climate Bill kicks off.
We’re still the only part of the UK and Ireland without legislation on the issue - but it appears we could have some very soon.
Edwin Poots Bill jumped the queue on the coalition Climate Bill and will be heard on the floor of the Assembly for the first time on Tuesday.
And he’s made a rather interesting change to the Bill himself.
Despite years refusing net-zero carbon targets, it appears he has finally done a U-turn.
Though eagle-eyed climate activists will have also noted that he did not do the same back flip on methane, which scientists now think is more harmful.
The Climate Coalition NI protest is at the Stormont on February 1 at 12pm.
Its theme is ‘Time is Running Out’ to deliver a strong, net-zero Climate Act before the upcoming Assembly election.
Speakers will include MLA co-sponsors of the cross-party Climate Bill and leading climate activists.
