Related article – Adversity brings Opportunity 

The Ukraine crisis has further highlighted the urgent need for a long-term solution to the energy problem and – since the greenest form of energy is ENERGY WE DON’T HAVE TO USE – that long-term solution is OASIS-CITIES..!

Putin’s Feb 2022 invasion of Ukraine was immediately followed by the most far-reaching sanctions ever imposed on any country.  In effect the West, led by the US and Britain – neither of which are dependent on Russian oil and gas – has essentially declared economic warfare on Russia.  Most of Europe, on the other hand, is very dependent on Russian natural gas and is now facing the real possibility – probability almost – that Russia will take its revenge by unilaterally cutting off gas supplies – in the hope that the European arm of NATO will back down and stop supplying military aid to Ukraine.

Even before the invasion “market forces” (Russian supply machinations) had engineered a huge spike in the gas price.  It has come down from a peak of >$500 but is still several times the price of around $50-60 which (until late last year) had held for several years previously.

The energy crunch situation Europe now finds itself in is potentially even more serious than the oil-price “shock” of the mid-1970’s –  also a tit-for-tat “revenge” – by Middle-East oil producers in response to Western military and financial support for Israel after that nation was unsuccessfully invaded by its Arab neighbours in Oct 1973.  On that occasion the biggest impact was felt in the pocket of Joe Motorist who had to pay much more to fill his car’s fuel tank assuming he could find any fuel in the first place.  That arguably was just a temporary inconvenience whereas an embargo on gas supplies could mean real discomfort in the form of much higher gas and electricity prices, cold homes and offices, and a major recession brought about by industrial shut-downs.

Whatever the outcome of this war, one thing is almost certain – people are going to have to pay MUCH more for their energy, whether it be petrol for their cars, oil or gas for home heating, and electricity (much of it is gas generated).  Electricity and gas prices have already TRIPLED or more, from what they were.

The moral and practical lesson we should learn from this latest crisis is the same as it was 50 years ago.   We must reduce our dependence – and in some cases an almost 100% reliance – on energy imported from aggressive or hostile or potentially troublesome and unreliable sources.

We must USE LESS ENERGY and become SELF-SUFFICIENT..!

We need to focus minds on a LONG-TERM solution to our energy problem, rather than the present reactive band-aids like the various useful but mostly UNIMAGINATIVE solutions being proposed by greenies.

• WIND & SOLAR –
  • both sources are highly INTERMITTENT and therefore UNRELIABLE.
  • they also lack the HIGH ENERGY-DENSITY of oil and gas
  • to become a reliable source they need something which has not yet been invented – high-capacity rapid-discharge STORAGE..!
• SMART-METERS –
  • millions of these gadgets have been distributed freely to every home in the country
  • How much energy will they save you ?  1%..2%..possibly 3% if we believe the most optimistic estimates.
• HEAT-PUMPS –
  • £10,000 installation cost – possibly more as most houses will need bigger radiators and pipework.
  • Totally impractical for apartments due to the outdoor space they occupy and also NOISY..!
  • How well do they actually work on cold days..?
• DISTRICT HEATING
  • Only practical for large blocks of flats close to power stations or other industrial heat out-putters
  • District Heating from basement workshops, etc, is almost custom-designed for Oasis Cities
• ELECTRIC CARS – requiring a huge ramp-up in electricity generation
  • EV’s are NOT “green” – 200 tonnes of soil has to be excavated for every 500kg battery, requiring the processing of 10 tonnes of salt into lithium, 15 tonnes of ore for cobalt, 2 tonnes of ore to nickel and 12 tonnes of ore.
  • Heavier and with more torque, EV’s emit more highly toxic TYRE DUST than old-fangled ICEV’s.
  • When all cars are electric, >100 MILLION battery-packs will EXPIRE EVERY YEAR
  • EV’s may  lead to an INCREASE in the overall number of cars, as those who can afford will want a fully-charged back-up car in case their others are low on charge.
  • Yet we are still encouraged to USE OUR CARS LESS OFTEN and use cycles – huge expansion of cycle lanes
• SUPER-INSULATION
  • of 20+ million heat-leaking old homes, thus creating 20 million skip-loads of waste and dust
  • and a typical modern house only lasts 75 years
• DENSIFICATION is the only viable long-term solution, but (due to Holly-weird) high-density is widely despised as Dystopian, so is rarely suggested.  When Lord Foster bravely said (back in 2005) that “London must be densified” – the degree of densification required was not mentioned – and in most cases is not practical, except in a few VERY EXPENSIVE prime riverside or transport-hub locations..!

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BUT STILL NOBODY – JUST NOBODY – IS POINTING THE FINGER AT THE APPALLING WASTEFULLNESS INHERENT IN THE FORM OF OUR CITIES AND, IN PARTICULAR, THE ROLE PLAYED BY S-P-R-A-W-L….

FURTHERMORE – HOTTER AND DRIER SUMMERS ARE THREATENING OUR WATER SUPPLIES.  YET WE STILL WASTE ALMOST ALL THE RAINFALL WHICH FALLS ON OUR ROOFS..! 

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