Energy letters

Last week (Thursday 2nd April) the Dereham Times carried another letter by Malcolm Heymer, responding to the letters printed the previous week, from Geoff Hinchliffe and myself. In his letter Mr Heymer argues for nuclear power instead of wind turbines, and flatly denies the existance of Man-made climate change by citing the claims of a Swedish man, “Dr Nils-Axel Morner”, to argue that sea level rise is “the greatest lie ever told”.

WHAT A LOT OF NONSENSE! I looked “Dr Nils-Axel Morner” up on the web and what I found was very unconvincing! This man is into strange things like dowsing for water! His case reguarding sea level change includes lots of little bits of truth! But then so does any good deception! I found his case most unconvincing and I’m sure that no-one else (with a good understanding of the real evidence) would be either.

So this week’s Dereham Times (9th April) carries two responses to Malcolm Heymer; from Geoff Hinchliffe and from me. I copy my letter below which the newspaper gave a headline of “Communities must generate own energy”.

I agree with Malcolm Heymer (letters, 2nd April) that we still need some large power stations of some form, at least for the forseeable future. But I also believe that we need to take responsibility for generating an increasing proportion of our local energy requirements within our own local communities. In an age where energy security looks increasingly fragile, and where terrorists threaten to attack large power stations and distribution grids, this seems particularly sensible!

We need more micro-generation, feeding into a decentralised energy grid, thus removing power from the big energy corporations and giving it to local communities. But with power comes responsibility!

I would be happy to see wind turbines near me, as part of a mix of local micro-generation, along with solar panels, and with micro-hydro (at old watermill sites along the river Wensum for instance). But of these, in relatively flat Norfolk, wind power probably makes the most sense!

What I found from a web search for “Dr Nils-Alex Morner” (mentioned by Malcolm Heymer) was unconvincing! This is a man into strange things like dowsing. His argument reguarding sea-level change (like a good deception) is full of half-truths! But I’m sure that few people with an understanding of the real facts would be swayed by his case.

Matt Walker