A couple of my usual interests in this week’s post: energy from a more academic point of view, and energy from the perspective of a layperson. I’m increasingly curious about what the average UK voter perceives the UK compared to other nations – do most people still think we are comparable to nations like the USA, France, Singapore, etc? There needs to be some kind of advertising campaign or similar to get wider attention out there.
In other news, yet more internal Labour fighting fun in the UK, with speculation that the new chancellor under Burnham (should he win) could be Louise Haigh (convicted of fraud), Ed Miliband (can run a government department effectively, but seemingly convinced that net zero is the highest priority), or a slightly more left field choice like Mahmoud. It would be nice if we could get a chancellor who a) doesn’t regard private business as evil by nature, and b) recognises that it needs the state to deregulate to succeed. The by-election doesn’t take place for another few weeks, so let’s see if anyone comes out with a policy plan or indication as to what they would do differently.
https://overcast.fm/+AAaom_d_2ns
- I’m very glad that the IFS had Dieter Helm on to discuss why UK energy prices are so expensive compared to the rest of the developed world. It approaches the UK energy issue in a sensible way, with clear trade-offs identified. This really should be listened to by UK politicians in order to understand precisely how we’ve gone so wrong with our energy policy.
- Possibly the most important statistic: gas is four times the cost of the USA, and overall energy costs are about two to three times more expensive than China. I don’t care how good your manufacturing base is, if you are faced with that level of headwind, you will lose to global competitors. Or, even worse, you will move to one of these regions in order to keep pace.
- I think the most useful section by far is the renewables true cost section. As many renewable advocates highlight, there are no marginal costs to solar / wind compared to traditional supplies of energy. However, this doesn’t really capture the full picture. As renewables are so intermittent (particularly wind), we must keep gas ready on standby for those days where we have no renewable output.
- The next key statistic: we need 35 gigwatts of gas… to only run 4 to 5 percent of the time. This is a crazy state of affairs to be ending up in, regardless of your stance on net zero and UK energy more broadly.
- The rest of the podcast is great and full of useful information, but that alone has given me plenty of thought. If Reform or the Conservatives ever make it back in to power, this has to be the biggest area of change, even if the results will take some time to show up.
https://www.natesilver.net/p/i-loved-my-time-in-the-uk-but-it
- A take on the UK summer by Eli Mckown-Dawson, an American who has lived in London for the last year doing her master’s degree at LSE, and the differences between the two nations.
- Naturally she notes the stagnant economy, public services, and other areas, but uses air conditioning as a key way to highlight the poverty mindset of the UK. I had no idea that a) 61% of adults said they hadn’t looked into purchasing a method of cooling their home, including fans, and b) 45% of individuals said an approach to climate change should be focussed on reducing resource consumption, against 35% who said technological solutions was the better way forward.
- Not quite sure what it says about the mentality of those who are usually the first to make excuses / arguments for helping others, but refuse to consider improving the lives of their fellow citizens, but I don’t like it one bit. Stop making installing A/C throughout the UK unnecessarily difficult and bloody support people being cool in this heat.
- Lastly a bit of a different topic to my usual, but came across this Substack by Benjamin Tod and found it quite interesting about what actually makes a dreamjob.
- A couple of things of note:
- 1) Don’t follow your passions, as these change throughout your life and what inspired you at 20 may not at 40.
- 2) money is important, but only up to a certain point. Beyond that (they say around $100k in the USA, I’m not sure how that would translate to the UK, as different regions have different living standards), it seems to have a diminishing return
- 3) Then it seems to be primarily if you feel that your work makes others better – easy to say for emergency workers, less so for a software developer (but I would argue any job should have that angle, but it may be harder to relate to than in others).
- Interestingly company size, age, etc didn’t seem to matter significantly, beyond if your hours, commute, and team were good or not. I’d also be curious about age, demographics, and other employee characteristics – would you be happier if you are working with people similar to yourself or not?
