Energy Insight

Recent news has been regarding the rise of natural gas prices in the UK--the most recent hike is 22%! That follows a series of price hikes all of which really make a difference in life.

Americans are not really exposed to the real effects of government and corporate policies in the same way Brits seem to be. One good effect is the development of public transport:



This is the train I take to the university each day.


It is cheaper and much easier to use than a car, and it runs on electricity (which may or may not be more efficient at times, but at rush-hour I can't imagine a better system), but extra energy has to be invested by human beings by walking to and from stops. In other words, there is a real human energy investment in this sort of transport--a trade off that we never seem to discuss.

Since energy is so costly, our heat runs only twice a day for about 2 hours at a time. The effect is that it changes how we dress, when we take showers, etc.

The flat has a washer but not a dryer because the cost is too great. As you saw in an earlier post, we have to hang our clothes out which takes time and, you guessed it, energy. Obviously this is an old technology:) but it takes time and it gets tiring packing the clothes down stairs, hanging them up, checking from time to time, running like crazy to get them off the line when the rain starts, etc. [Here's a secret--the energy policy has an effect on how often I wear things before putting in the wash. In CA, I wear things once--sometimes for only a few hours--and toss it in the wash. Here, I wear shirts more than one day, which is not uncommon because the energy cost is too high. I'm sure you'll not think less of me now that you know what and why.]

We are tired at the end of the day because we walk to the train, carry all our groceries by hand, hang the clothes out and try to keep warm. The effect of the British energy policy is a very high concern about consumption which drives efforts to control it. People expend energy to make up for those conservation efforts and are generally more acitve and thinner as a result. Given that the US, according to our fearless leader, "addicted to oil" what serious debate have we had about energy policy in CA or the US?

The effects of constraint are not always pleasent, but these folks know how to deal with shortage. We can learn much from them, but is anyone asking?