YIMBY (yes in my back yard)
at 12:23pm on Thursday, 18th May 2006
Yes, I'll take a power plant in my back yard, but certainly not a nuclear one. How�s that? Let's review...
Phase I - My economic textbook defined utilities as a 'natural monopoly' - I'm sure you remember the lesson. One producer would be most efficient and therefore ensure the lowest prices. (That textbook also assumed that people make 'rational' choices based on perfect information.)
Phase II - Governments usher in an era of privatisation, because actually it is competing producers who ensure the lowest prices for the consumer.
Phase III - The blurring of producers and consumers � from massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) to electricity.
Every house can produce its own electricity (We're the micro-generation!) . Witness
- Alan Simpson MP who has just build his own eco home
- BedZED
Some obvious benefits to phase III are reducing of carbon emissions and increasing energy security.
So what to make of Tony Blair's views on nuclear? Straight out of phase I and II - but now there are too many economic arguments against him ('The facts are not with him', Tom Burke in today's Guardian). It won't solve our CO2 emissions problem according to the Sustainable Development Commission, and though we might import less oil, it only helps the energy security issue if you assume that no one will figure out how to knock out a nuclear power plant or two.
We're still stuck in the - excuse the pun - dark ages if we think electricity has to be centrally produced, or that a technology silver bullet will solve climate change. So yes, I'll put a 'power plant' in my back yard - a micro one.
Email me if you have problems commenting as I'd really like to hear your thoughts...
Yes, I'll take a power plant in my back yard, but certainly not a nuclear one. How�s that? Let's review...
Phase I - My economic textbook defined utilities as a 'natural monopoly' - I'm sure you remember the lesson. One producer would be most efficient and therefore ensure the lowest prices. (That textbook also assumed that people make 'rational' choices based on perfect information.)
Phase II - Governments usher in an era of privatisation, because actually it is competing producers who ensure the lowest prices for the consumer.
Phase III - The blurring of producers and consumers � from massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) to electricity.
Every house can produce its own electricity (We're the micro-generation!) . Witness
- Alan Simpson MP who has just build his own eco home
- BedZED
Some obvious benefits to phase III are reducing of carbon emissions and increasing energy security.
So what to make of Tony Blair's views on nuclear? Straight out of phase I and II - but now there are too many economic arguments against him ('The facts are not with him', Tom Burke in today's Guardian). It won't solve our CO2 emissions problem according to the Sustainable Development Commission, and though we might import less oil, it only helps the energy security issue if you assume that no one will figure out how to knock out a nuclear power plant or two.
We're still stuck in the - excuse the pun - dark ages if we think electricity has to be centrally produced, or that a technology silver bullet will solve climate change. So yes, I'll put a 'power plant' in my back yard - a micro one.
Email me if you have problems commenting as I'd really like to hear your thoughts...
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