CollioureViews
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Do you hear "Green Party" and think, "I love me muh envrionment"?
You probably do. Who doesn't?
We all love the environment. I like, uhh, animals and shit...
So, naturally, we associate sustainable initiatives with any group that slaps "Green" over all their marketing.
But have you ever questioned how effective your local Green Party's ambitions would actually be?
This thread will lightly touch on such proposals, with Green Party UK as a case study.
You probably do. Who doesn't?
We all love the environment. I like, uhh, animals and shit...
So, naturally, we associate sustainable initiatives with any group that slaps "Green" over all their marketing.
But have you ever questioned how effective your local Green Party's ambitions would actually be?
This thread will lightly touch on such proposals, with Green Party UK as a case study.
What do the Greens want?
"The UK’s current climate targets do not reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. We would push the Government to transition to a zero-carbon society as soon as possible, and more than a decade ahead of 2050." - A bunch of dumb fucks
On its face, it sounds reasonable, right?
A significant challenge, given the UK's total final energy consumption in 2024 was approximately 1,400 to 1,500 TWh [1], of which only 320 TWh was for electricity [1], but doable, right?.
How will they do it?
- Phasing out all Nuclear power [2] ??????
- Phasing out all fossil fuels [2]
- Phasing out all Biofuels [2]
- Fining frequent flyers [3]
- Banning some domestic flights [3]
- Nationalising railway, energy, and water companies [3]
- Ambiguous objectives to "get us walking" 50% of our trips (turning off our cars, perhaps?) [4]
- Transitioning to a 70/30 split of wind/solar for UK energy [2]
Is this realistic?
Seriously, think about those proposals.
Will they actually deliver the goal of a "zero carbon electricity supply"?
Well, to survive a week with no wind or sun on a renewables-only grid, we'd need at least 100 TWh of storage [5]. And we currently have...? In the order of 13 GWh [6], or thousands of times smaller, worth of battery storage, never mind other currently non-existent forms of storage needed.
AND THAT'S JUST FOR CURRENT ELECTRICITY DEMAND, NOT ENERGY USAGE CURRENTLY ON FOSSIL FUELS LIKE TRANSPORT OR HEATING.
Plus, as far as I recall, getting these batteries together ain't exactly "eco-friendly", or even people-friendly for that matter [7]:
Not to mention an EV needs over 6x the mineral inputs as a conventional car [8]. It's estimated that to reach a net zero scenario globally by 2040, there'd need to be a 4,200% increase in lithium demand and a 2,500% increase in graphite [9].
In essence, that's impossible. So, we'd effectively still be importing nuclear from France, Oil & Gas from Norway, and LPG from the USA, by 2050.
And for fuck sakes. Every little shitty item in our homes says "Made in China" on the reverse. How do you think they power their manufacturing???
There is so much more content here, but I'm bored now...
Fuck the "Greens"
"The UK’s current climate targets do not reflect the urgency of the climate crisis. We would push the Government to transition to a zero-carbon society as soon as possible, and more than a decade ahead of 2050." - A bunch of dumb fucks
On its face, it sounds reasonable, right?
A significant challenge, given the UK's total final energy consumption in 2024 was approximately 1,400 to 1,500 TWh [1], of which only 320 TWh was for electricity [1], but doable, right?.
How will they do it?
- Phasing out all Nuclear power [2] ??????
- Phasing out all fossil fuels [2]
- Phasing out all Biofuels [2]
- Fining frequent flyers [3]
- Banning some domestic flights [3]
- Nationalising railway, energy, and water companies [3]
- Ambiguous objectives to "get us walking" 50% of our trips (turning off our cars, perhaps?) [4]
- Transitioning to a 70/30 split of wind/solar for UK energy [2]
Is this realistic?
Seriously, think about those proposals.
Will they actually deliver the goal of a "zero carbon electricity supply"?
Well, to survive a week with no wind or sun on a renewables-only grid, we'd need at least 100 TWh of storage [5]. And we currently have...? In the order of 13 GWh [6], or thousands of times smaller, worth of battery storage, never mind other currently non-existent forms of storage needed.
AND THAT'S JUST FOR CURRENT ELECTRICITY DEMAND, NOT ENERGY USAGE CURRENTLY ON FOSSIL FUELS LIKE TRANSPORT OR HEATING.
Plus, as far as I recall, getting these batteries together ain't exactly "eco-friendly", or even people-friendly for that matter [7]:
Not to mention an EV needs over 6x the mineral inputs as a conventional car [8]. It's estimated that to reach a net zero scenario globally by 2040, there'd need to be a 4,200% increase in lithium demand and a 2,500% increase in graphite [9].
In essence, that's impossible. So, we'd effectively still be importing nuclear from France, Oil & Gas from Norway, and LPG from the USA, by 2050.
And for fuck sakes. Every little shitty item in our homes says "Made in China" on the reverse. How do you think they power their manufacturing???
There is so much more content here, but I'm bored now...
Fuck the "Greens"
Sources:
[1] - https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...k-2025/energy-consumption-in-the-uk-ecuk-2025
[2] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/powering-up-fairer-greener-energy/
[3] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/creating-a-fairer-greener-economy/
[4] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/fairer-greener-transport/
[5] - https://royalsociety.org/-/media/po...ge/large-scale-electricity-storage-report.pdf
[6] - https://www.energy-storage.news/ano...-for-uk-battery-storage-as-4gwh-comes-online/
[7] - https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/11/4/dr-congos-faltering-fight-against-illegal-cobalt-mines
[8] - https://www.iea.org/reports/the-rol...in-clean-energy-transitions/executive-summary
[9] - https://www.iea.org/reports/the-rol...ral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions
[1] - https://www.gov.uk/government/stati...k-2025/energy-consumption-in-the-uk-ecuk-2025
[2] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/powering-up-fairer-greener-energy/
[3] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/creating-a-fairer-greener-economy/
[4] - https://greenparty.org.uk/about/our-manifesto/fairer-greener-transport/
[5] - https://royalsociety.org/-/media/po...ge/large-scale-electricity-storage-report.pdf
[6] - https://www.energy-storage.news/ano...-for-uk-battery-storage-as-4gwh-comes-online/
[7] - https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/11/4/dr-congos-faltering-fight-against-illegal-cobalt-mines
[8] - https://www.iea.org/reports/the-rol...in-clean-energy-transitions/executive-summary
[9] - https://www.iea.org/reports/the-rol...ral-requirements-for-clean-energy-transitions
