Old people die from fuel poverty

Bill Waited a moment for Jeanne to calm down then went on. ‘Jeanne the old people died because the cost of the food and the energy to heat their homes was so high. People had to choose between heating their homes and eating.

Elderly woman huddled by the fire

They had to choose because the companies that sold the energy were making giant profits and did not care about the people. It was not just the old people but the poor, the working poor, and the lower middle class.

Protest about high profits by energy companies

Many people began to spend more and more of their money on heating and lighting. And that’s when it happened. That is when the people had enough.’

Jeanne grew very attentive now. This was the part of the story she liked most. Her father continued ‘It started with one man who refused to pay his bill. He was so fed up with the whole mess that he just stopped paying the energy bill. He had to so he could eat! “Heat or Eat”  that was the motto.’

The energy company took him to court after 6 or 7 months. The corporation won as they usually do. The man had so much debt to pay back that he had to sell his house. Others heard about his problem and got upset about it.

Bill turned to his right and asked; ‘Ed what was that guy’s name again?’ Bill’s friend Ed is short and round. He looks like Santa sitting by the fire. Except he has no beard.

Ed reaches up and scratches his head. ‘I think it was Bishop . . . .’ Bill cut in: ‘Steven Bishop that was it. Yes Jeanne Mr. Bishop lost his home and had to live on the streets.

Bishop was in good health when he lost his house but he died a sick man only 3 months later.

Michael Gething a homeless man who died on the streets

People got very upset about this. Then they started tweeting and messaging each other.

A video of Bishops post-trial interview went viral on the internet. It was after that happened that the first flash mob appeared.’

Read more of this story in another blog.

Is greed more important than truth?

Bill is a tall man. This is hard to see as he sits before the fire.

Bill By the Fire

He leans back and reaches into the pocket of his blue jeans and pulls out a 1 pound coin. The coin is bright and golden in the firelight. ‘Jenny would you like to hear the story or have the money in my hand?’

Jeanne replies quickly ‘I want to hear the story daddy.’

Her father goes on with the story. ‘The whole problem back then was that companies and greedy people were chasing  money. Governments thought this was good and let it happen. The condition of the planet got worse. People started saying that we were killing the planet and all the living things on it.’

His friends around the fire lean forward to listen. ‘No one listened at first. Some who had the gift of clarity saw what would happen if nothing was done. They saw the truth of ecological disaster and climate destruction.

Climate change destroys Philippine cities

These people formed organizations that worked to stop the madness. Others joined these groups as members and helped with the cause. Many small steps were made. Many small victories were made over the stupidity and greed.

Lets all save the planet, OK?

But the victories were too small. The changes started happening faster. Around the planet, the effects of the damage caused by environmental disasters spread further. The companies began to grow stronger and make laws that restricted the people. The people wanted to complain but these undemocratic laws were silencing them.

Laws and governments served the corporate interests not the people. Corporations cared about profit not the environment. The profit they made always had to grow. This is the way of corporations. Grow or die.

The profits came from finding cheaper ways to get oil and gas to the market. This caused more damage to the environment. The profits came from charging more and more money for the electricity and gas.

The people tried to pay the higher prices. Older people with pensions suffered the worst. They had to choose between food to eat or fuel to keep the lights on and the house warm. The elderly were dying by the thousands every winter due to something called “fuel poverty.”

‘Daddy!’ said Jeanne with tears in her eyes.  Jeanne always got upset with this part of the story E – Is For Energy. There is a part of each story in the alphabet revolution that makes Jeanne sad. ‘Daddy did the old people really die because they could not stay warm?’

Read more about what happens next . . in another blog

The story continues – E is for energy

E is for Energy is the story of how we take back the world energy supply from greedy oppressive oligarchs and oil barons. E – Is for Energy describes our energy problems and how we the people solve them.

On the Fifth Night was the Letter E

On the fifth night I had the same dream again.  The weather was as clear and fine as the first night I saw this vision. The stars were just as bright in the sky. The fire was the same. There were a few more  men and women sitting by the fire.

A group by the fire

Jeanne walked up to the fire and sat down just like she had the first night I had the dream. Jeanne is tall for her age, almost 5 feet tall. Her summer dress has a print pattern of animals. Giraffes and elephants mingle with lions and cheetahs on an African savanna. Her hair shines in the firelight.

This time she asks again ‘daddy tell me the story again about how it happened.’ Bill is wearing a T shirt with writing on it. It reads: “When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.”

Bill starts the same way as before: ‘Jeanne which letter of the alphabet do you want to hear about tonight?’ Jeanne replied ‘E daddy I want to learn hear about the letter E again.’

E – Is For Energy

And so Bill begins his story about the letter E:

‘E is for energy. This story is about how the people rose up and took back control of the energy in the world. It all started back when oil and gas were cheap and plentiful.

Solar energy had been around for over 100 years. All the world used fossil fuels to run cars, heat homes, and run industries.

All was well and lots of money was made.  People everywhere saw that life was good.

Cars were big and roomy. Highways were filled with people traveling places.

The diner experience – Fossil fueled happiness

The skies got crowded with airplanes. People began traveling to the far corners of the planet.

New and exotic cultures were now made tourist destinations.’ bill paused here to stir the fire and add another log.

‘Men began to travel above the Earth. They turned around and looked back for the first time at the planet they came from.’

This is your Home, Your Mother, and your Life!

Here Jeanne grew impatient and interrupted her father. ‘Daddy that was way before the people won back the power. I want to hear about that.’

Read more about what happens next . . in another blog

I intend to stop Hinkley C from ever being built. We will never need another nuclear plant! I will need your help to change the minds of our government leaders. This book is how I will get the message out in to the world. The current government here in the UK has turned it’s back on renewable energy technology.

We could start building our renewable energy future now, today. We can do this with less money than would be spent on big power plants. The energy produced from a local, distributed generation model can quickly replace the aging dirty coal and dangerous radioactive nuclear plants.

The problem with our renewable future is that there is not enough profit for the Big energy producers. I will provide links in future to articles in prestigious magazines and financial news papers  which discuss the threat that micro-generation and distributed energy systems pose to the big energy companies. Placing this generation in the hands of the many, in the hands of the people will end forever the domination of our energy markets by the few.

Most important in this book and the path we must follow is the healing of our planet and our climate. We have waited too long ! we must now work in earnest on the renewable future we deserve. Our planet, our environment, and our very future depend on us acting now to remove all the blockades erected by the current big energy producers

In this book we will discuss the ways we can build this renewable future. This book will also discuss some of the reasons why it is not happening today. In the next chapter we will look at how solar alone will power the future world. In the following chapters we will examine how different ideas once put in practice, can save our climate, save our planet and save us. Chapters 7 through 9 will look at the energy industry as it exists today. There are different parts to the business of making energy today. We will look at the industry as a whole and how it keeps us as a nation and as a species from going green forever. Chapter ten is a primary reason I am writing this book……

We have the knowledge and the technology in place today to build a renewable energy system to power this country. Not 7% of the country but the all of the country! So let’s get the government on board the train to clean energy, the real clean energy, renewable energy!

David Cameron believes that nuclear energy is clean. This is one of the most ignorant things about our leader. He wants to have new nuclear plants build at Hinkley. He wants the French to build them but they won’t pay for it. The Chinese are willing to pay for the building cost of 16 billion pounds. This will mean the UK energy bill payer will be saddled with higher bill for 35 years into the future. How many warehouse and factory roofs could we put solar energy systems on for 16 Billion pounds? How many energy storage systems could we build with this amount of money. This government and the last have spent a stupidly small fraction of 16 Billion pounds on renewable energy. Spending that kid of money on a distributed system of renewable energy production would be cleaner, greener, and cheaper for us all.

Do you think Nuclear energy is clean?

Think again – The guardian

Why is our government wasting time? Why is this current coalition cutting funding to renewable clean energy? We have seen interest in solar drop until it is critically hampered. Could it be an accident that the history of UK funding for renewable energy has started then stopped time after time? Is it some unique properties of the UK energy system that makes connecting to the grid difficult, costly to consumers and hinders the progress of renewable energy? Is it an accident of fortune that this government decided to radically cut the funding for the Feed In Tariff? Is it a cruel twist of fate that David Cameron went to France just after the FIT cuts were finally in place to sign a deal with the French to build a new nuclear power plant? I don’t think so! I think the “The Greenest Government Ever” is a total lie.

Only 2% believe David Cameron is leading ‘greenest government ever’

As a country we are ready to embrace the renewable future we need today. All the technology and systems are available now. The people want to see more renewable energy, without having to pay over the odds to get it. The government has done studies that show clearly that not employing the renewable energy measures now will cost us all dearly in the future. We will suffer many woes from a broken climate to the increasing difficulties of feeding our population. We may even run out of the very power we need to heat and light our homes. If we have all the necessary tools what, is stopping us from dealing with the crisis?

An article proving the point!

“Inverness South councilor is barred by the local authority from taking part in determining wind farm planning applications because of his negative views.”

Germany employs more people than the UK in the renewable sector. This is one of the biggest lost opportunities within the debate. The UK has always been a global leader in the invention, design, and manufacturing industries. Now we are failing to encourage the renewable sector to grow new jobs. This job growth is vital to our economic recovery. Government support and investment in renewable energy will pay huge dividends far into the future. Investing now in new technology will secure England’s financial future and return the UK to world prominence.