This site is a call to action

Climate change: Could we do more? Yes!

Photo: Filming floods, Muchelney, 2014
Help make climate change the #1 political issue
The sacrifices we make to cut our carbon footprints have little effect, except to make our lives less good. The only effective solution is to decarbonise energy, which only governments can do. Political will comes from voters, so the best way for me to cut my carbon footprint is to inspire you to influence other voters.

Ballots speak louder than words. If you care about climate change, help make it the number one election issue:

Global warming now exceeds the 1.5° target. Will you do anything to stop it reaching 2°?
Fossil fuels cost the UK £150 billion a year, they’re killing the planet, and UK reserves have gone.
Decarbonisation is an economic no-brainer - it will be cheaper , than carbon fuels, and will greatly improve our lives. It is doable, well within reach, and it could be made cost-effective.

Only government can effect real change, to electrify road transport, clean our energy supply, roll out heat pumps and home efficiency. But government needs a clear mandate, a clear message from voters. We need to tell our politicians that we want net zero, we know it's doable, and that it's their fault if it isn't done.

Time has run out - now is the time to act: use your voice.

And that's where we come in. Talk about what needs to be done, and what doesn’t. Read more about solutions, and learn to sort the wheat from the chaff. Decarbonisation conversations are stuck on culture wars and misinformation . Instead, we could be talking about and looking out for the many exciting technologies on the horizon that are set to make our lives cleaner, quieter, warmer and cheaper. Get people excited: change is possible, sensible, cost effective, and the political will is in voters hands. We know where we’re going. Understand the arguments. Fight the myths and disinformation. Be part of the debate, and take the debate out to people around you, so that when we come to vote, we elect someone that will lead change.

Holding government to account
We have to stay informed for democracy to work properly, but nobody follows a boring story. Democracy needs stimulating narratives that challenge government policy, otherwise the door stays open to spin, dishonesty and vested interests to creep in.

If voters remain energy illiterate, then government will fob you off with greenwash and eye-wateringly poor policies such as carbon capture, hydrogen cars & boilers or planting trees (whilst burning down forests).
Photo: WikiMedia/ Kenueone

Improving lifestyles

No bans on flying, driving or red meat. Decarbonisation does not mean sacrifice

The energy transition is an opportunity, and we are all invited to share the benefits. Ignore the hard-line zealots shouting at drivers and lecturing people to stop doing things - that is not net zero. Think instead of quieter cheaper cars, quieter traffic, (maybe less traffic), cheaper electricity, cheaper more comfortable heating that’s quieter than a gas boiler, liberation from our oil dependence on dictators and oligarchs. Cleaner air. Technology that improves your life, not makes it worse. The technology we need to stop burning 90% of all oil and gas is already here and improving lives. We don’t have to compromise our lifestyles, just move away from dirty, noisy, inefficient and costly combustion technology.

Decarbonising the world is simple ... just stop burning stuff:

Don't burn stuff - it produces carbon dioxide.
Use only clean energy - wind and solar provide the cheapest electricity today.
Save energy, then we won't need to make as much.
Store energy - prepare for affordable long-term grid-scale energy storage from 2030
Stop burning stuff - petrol, gas, wood - it all turns to CO₂.

This website might not have all the answers, but asking the questions is a start

The pathways to clean energy are entangled with spin, politics and misinformation skewed by political prejudices and vested commercial interests. Voters have a responsibility to see through it, to understand the technology and options that will get us to net zero and beyond. And that includes non-scientists. Our politicians need to know that voters follow the issues and will judge them on their policies. This website is dedicated to exploring solutions, shining a light on nascent technologies and exposing false promises.

Photo: CO2 washer Wikimedia IUTAe.V.
Just Stop Oil ... Just Stop. I sympathise with the frustration of protesters that 'chain themselves to fences and shout at motorists', but the public has tired of being a proxy target. Activists would do better to find ways to win hearts and minds of the voting public, to stand against token gestures with clear positive visions and role models that inspire people to vote for a cleaner future.

About me

I'm a TV documentary maker with a degree in electrical engineering. I started writing research notes about energy issues after Boris Johnson's 2020 "10-point plan for a green revolution” because the proposed policies seemed so flawed, yet the media didn’t appear to recognise that it made no sense. The more I looked into it, the more shocked I was by the what I found. As a supposed communicator with a science background, I felt there were some untold stories there that needed telling.

Then I stumbled upon my grid model, whose simplicity and profundity had to be shared. What began as an excel calculation to look into treasury claims that 'net zero' was unaffordable revealed many surprises, inspiring me to turn it into a website. I had created a really powerful model of the UK’s electricity grid that could simulate many different scenarios, and the results agreed with other assessments at the time.

So what motivated me to write? Read on...

Nuclear power is carbon free, makes 40 years of profit, but then remains radioactive for thousands of years, with no safe permanent disposal method. It currently makes up 20% of our electricity supply, which is too much for some, and too little for others. Soon Hinkley Point C may be the only nuclear power provider in the UK, contributing a steady 3.2GW of power (about 5% of UK future demand excluding domestic heating), at double the levellised unit cost of wind power.
Photo: Sizewell A reactor (WikiMedia/ John Baker)

I write about energy because I can’t save energy

All the energy saving efforts I could afford made no difference to my carbon emissions. I realised that the problem wasn’t me, it was that the energy itself was dirty. Yet clean energy had become really cheap, so why wasn’t government making my electricity clean and electrifying all my energy needs? The answer was politics.

I saw that the best way to cut my carbon footprint was to influence the energy conversation using my science knowledge and media skills, to tip the political balance towards cost-effective renewable solutions. We all have many skills. Persuading the UK to vote for a quieter, cleaner, cheaper energy future will take many millions of micro-persuasions. The first step is engaging with the issues. The other is finding the skills within yourself to engage other heart and minds.

If you have skills that might be useful, whether it's coding, writing, marketing or technical, why don't you join me? contact me at ian.glatt@gmail.com!