Parliamentary TEQs talk, and an interesting conversation…

Parliamentary TEQs talk, and an interesting conversation…

by | May 16, 2008 | All Posts, Politics, TEQs (Tradable Energy Quotas)

On Tuesday I spoke on TEQs at the House of Commons to a joint meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Peak Oil and Gas (APPGOPO) and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Climate Change. An audio recording of my presentation, and those of my co-speakers - Rob Hopkins of Transition Towns and Simon Snowden of Liverpool University's Oil Depletion Impact Group - can be found on the APPGOPO website, along with our slides. My personal highlight was Simon Snowden's comment on so-called 'silver bullet' solutions to peak oil and climate change: "Those familiar with their mythology will recall that silver bullets are used for killing werewolves. Werewolves do not exist. So silver bullets are both expensive and bloody useless!" My presentation was very well received, and I was delighted to hear that I had created some new converts, but as is so often the case I found the informal chats around the event the most engaging aspect. In particular I made the acquaintance of Polly Higgins, known as The Lazy Environmentalist, who informed me that the concept of an EU-MENA supergrid bringing Concentrating Solar thermal Power (CSP) to Europe from the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East is rapidly gaining political momentum among European governments. On Monday I will post a full comment on this significant development.