Drax - the environmental catastrophe providing 5% of the UK's power
If ever you need an example of what has gone fundamentally wrong with the UK power industry then look no further than Drax.
When privatised companies are handed huge subsidies and operate commercially, the incentive of maximising profits creates fundamental conflicts of interest and drives poor and unethical decision making.
Drax has received £6bn in UK tax payer funded subsidies to operate, and yet returns staggering profits The company posted an annual adjusted core profit of £398m in 2021, £731m for 2022, up 83% from 2021. For 2023 it expects to adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £1.16 billion, up 59% from 2022.
And what is it burning to fund those profits, all while spewing 12 millions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere each year with no carbon capture and storage? Imported bio mass pellets (transported via heavy fuel oil burning bulk carriers) partly from historic forestry land it had pledged it would not source raw material from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68381160
I wrestle with conscience sometimes lighting the log burner to burn some locally harvested seasoned timber or waste wood. I'm not felling ancient woodland to fuel it. Drax is burning 17,500 tonnes of dehydrated biomass pellets a day.
Isn’t it time we developed a means of burning those invertebrates called ‘Hypocritters’ there’s plenty of them about!?
Regrets Toodles.
Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.
I struggle with this also - I calculated (lots of data available on the interweb such as here) that one return flight of a Boeing 777 from London LHR to New York JFK would burn as much fuel as me driving my car for 126 years at current annual mileage. I understand that a plane carries several hundred passengers and the per seat consumption is far less (about half my annual car consumption) and jet fuel is different etc etc but it does make me think - if one flight gets cancelled, I'll take that offset thank you. I understand the personal moral responsibility etc.
Posted by: @allyfish…
When privatised companies are handed huge subsidies and operate commercially, the incentive of maximising profits creates fundamental conflicts of interest and drives poor and unethical decision making.
….
Totally agree.
Of course, nationalisation brings its own unique brand of inefficiencies as well. Personally I wish I knew of a third alternative that avoids the greedy short-sightedness of the private sector and the lazy disinterestedness so often seen in nationalised services of the past. However I don’t and if I did I would be standing for Parliament.
I hasten to add that I’m not suggesting all private or public bodies are guilty of the stereotypical sins I’ve outlined.
105 m2 bungalow in South East England
Mitsubishi Ecodan 8.5 kW air source heat pump
18 x 360W solar panels
1 x 6 kW GroWatt battery and SPH5000 inverter
1 x Myenergi Zappi
1 x VW ID3
Raised beds for home-grown veg and chickens for eggs
"Semper in excretia; sumus solum profundum variat"
@majordennisbloodnok We need more Gregg Jacksons! 😉 Regards, Toodles.
Toodles, heats his home with cold draughts and cooks food with magnets.
- 26 Forums
- 2,242 Topics
- 49.9 K Posts
- 244 Online
- 5,903 Members
Join Us!
Podcast Picks
Latest Posts
-
RE: Buying large amp bidirectional RCD and RCBO
There won't be many RCBOs with a 100mA trip rating beca...
By Transparent , 3 minutes ago
-
Thanks everyone for tagging me in here. Havenwise is ...
By HCas , 8 minutes ago
-
RE: Radiator Sizing Dilemma: Vertical vs Type 33 for Low-Temperature Heat Pump Systems
I guess you didn't see my original post and th...
By DREI , 18 minutes ago
-
RE: Electricity price predictions
Because its what the investors demand, simple as that. ...
By JamesPa , 31 minutes ago
-
RE: Testing new controls/monitoring for Midea Clone ASHP
Are weather curve parameters changed through serviceman...
By Tasos , 1 hour ago
-
RE: One room is colder than the rest of the house
@jamespa thanks for all the advice. Just so you know, ...
By AndrewJ , 2 hours ago
-
RE: Mitsubishi Ecodan R290 10kW performance
@dgclimatecontrol I only have 1 cylinder and I can conf...
By Ecoste , 3 hours ago
-
RE: Daikin Octopus installation update - I saw my first defrost. 😍😂
My MMI is in the loft but I checked the pump flow rate ...
By RadWhisperer , 4 hours ago
-
RE: Midea ASHP – how to set weather compensation
@pash44pump Midea has introduced the R290 series, which...
By Tasos , 4 hours ago
-
RE: Grant Aerona 3 and Drayton system questions
Good man/woman that plumber! Very likely....
By JamesPa , 4 hours ago
-
RE: New build installation query
@paullacey Hi I have managed to save the fil...
By JamesPa , 5 hours ago
-
Thanks for the response @batpred Your conversational ...
By Transparent , 7 hours ago
-
RE: What should we do with our Aga?
One slightly off-the-wall suggestion is that, if you li...
By Majordennisbloodnok , 8 hours ago
-
RE: Help me keep the faith with my air source heat pump installation
I think there may be some oddities about the COP report...
By JamesPa , 10 hours ago
-
RE: My experience with 3 heat pump surveys: Heat Geek, British Gas & Octopus
If you paid for any of the assessments try asking for t...
By JamesPa , 22 hours ago
-
I've created a separate post here, wondering about radi...
By DREI , 24 hours ago
-
RE: Air source heat pump roll call – what heat pump brand and model do you have?
@ecoste, @walnut-tree-cottage these are both great piec...
By JamesPa , 1 day ago
-
RE: Solar inverters - where does the energy go when clipping?
You will, of course, check the dimensions and weight be...
By Transparent , 1 day ago
-
RE: The Hidden Secret to a Successful Heat Pump: Pipe Size Matters
17l/min is enough for only 6kW at 5C DT, not surprising...
By JamesPa , 1 day ago

