Introduction

Welcome to my blog pages. 

My professional career has been spent in industry - in steel, chemicals and manufacturing, working for major companies in engineering, technology and managerial positions. Moving back into academia after gaining an MBA and PhD my interest and focus has centred around the seemingly impossible balance between the human desire for wealth (GDP/capita) and wealth creation, and sustainability: the sustainability of the finite resources our planet Earth provides for us and for which we crave in increasing quantities. 

My blog posts therefore explore a range of subjects that we, in the UK, seek to pursue in order to mitigate the worst of our excesses - our incessant need for energy and the carbon emissions that result. Consequently, you will find discussions on Net Zero, wind turbines, electric vehicles and so on. However, my interest also lies in the law of unintended consequences and how, by seeking to solve one problem we inadvertently create another. Here, for instance, why bringing more and more of the cheapest form of electricity online - on-shore wind, does the cost of wholesale electricity keep increasing? Or, why build wind turbines in remote rural locations only to find the existing transmission infrastructure is incapable of carrying the electricity to urban areas where demand exists thereby creating a need for more overhead pylon lines that visually impair our most beautiful landscapes. 

My blog posts seek to explore these and many other issues by examining the data and facts, discussing the issues and reaching a consensus view. The overall conclusion being that not everything is as it seems, or more to the point - as it is portrayed by our political and business leaders. 

I hope, therefore, in my writings, I am able to stimulate your thoughts and maybe enable you to see a different dimension to this most intractable of problems - climate change, brought on by our continuous search for wealth and the consumption of energy, along with our belief that the solution lies in the hands of others. 

Talking of energy - you may wish to see below the current UK demand for electricity and how it is satisfied, curtesy of GridWatch.co.uk.  You may note that demand and supply do not balance.  That is because information on the sub-sea interconnectors between GB and Europe is missing.

Finally, if you wish to make contact you will find my email via my profile page. 

Dr Alan Jones, CEng. FIET.

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Constraint Payments for Wind Farms: an example of market failure!

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