Having saddled us with incandescent lamp ban, the IEA now promotes Nuclear power!

In this year’s issue of the IEA’s flagship annual publication “The World Energy Outlook” The recommendations in the central New policies section make disturbing reading. The main drift outlines that the world is still totally dependent on fossil fuels in the immediate future up to 2035. It still proposes that global warming should not be allowed to exceed 2°C and that the way to achieve this is by reducing CO2 emissions from the human use of power. The report identifies that, despite the policies in place to reduce energy use including the incandescent lamp ban, they are not going to achieve the necessary savings of energy.

As usual they make recommendations that we have seen before find their way into legislation across the 28 industrialised countries who take advice from IEA.  In the New Policies Scenario, nuclear output rises by over 70% by 2035. In a telephone interview with the Huffington Post, Fatih Birol, the chief economist of the IEA was quoted:
“Our analysis showed that a lower nuclear future would be bad news for energy security,” Birol continued “Renewables cannot make it alone,it is not enough.”

In the IEA’s press release Executive Director Maria van der Hoeven. is quoted:
“Growth, prosperity and rising population will inevitably push up energy needs over the coming decades. But we cannot continue to rely on insecure and environmentally unsustainable uses of energy,” said “Governments need to introduce stronger measures to drive investment in efficient and low-carbon technologies. The Fukushima nuclear accident, the turmoil in parts of the Middle East and North Africa and a sharp rebound in energy demand in 2010 which pushed CO2 emissions to a record high, highlight the urgency and the scale of the challenge.”

It seems the IEA is set to continue making pronouncements and recommendations that directly challenge the public mood. One has to wonder if this is sheer disconnection with the zeitgeist or a deliberate process to provide “evidence” that allows politicians to promote policies that are just not wanted by their electorate but do satisfy big industry and the multinationals.

Kevan Shaw 13 Nov. 2011