The government comes up with ideals and ideas, apparently based on good intentions, but then something happens and  the clarity of those intentions seems to dim.

‘We have promised to reduce the CO2 production, in order to help save the planet from global warming. All must help. We encourage all to recycle whatever is possible, and we have put incentives in place to encourage people to pay a lot of their own money to obtain some clean and efficient energy via solar PV installations. We’ll slowly help you pay for your outlay by a feed in tariff. The amount you receive will depend on what you produce – that is until we can penalise people and renege on our agreements.’

‘With this intent, everyone must use low energy light bulbs – that is, ordinary householders, other than football clubs playing in the floodlights, or theatres, TV studios, and lighting up the shops in big cities – we’ll excuse them.’

We are now producing some of our own electricity, for the past three days, and I am most impressed. Even in three days with little sunlight, the meter of production is ticking away. We are hoping to be included in the higher FIT, but how long will it last anyway? This government has ideals, makes decisions and plans and then reneges. The solar industry has blossomed and was flourishing and providing not only clean electricity from the best renewable source on the planet, but providing households with cheaper electricity and thousands of much needed jobs. These are at jeopardy now, as the FIT was ‘costing too much’.

In comparison to the inefficient wind turbines springing up all over the country and at sea at vast expense and the astronomical expense of building nuclear power stations, I don’t think so. Once in place, these solar panels are silent, efficient, virtually unnoticeable, and continually produce at least some electricity if there is light, and, of course, more if the sun shines. They are clean and there is little or no maintenance unless the inverter should fail or a meteor from outer space hits a panel!

I have complete trust in the sun, if not in much else at present, and I think it will shine for the rest of my lifetime. Despite the prevarications and disputes in the world no one has yet managed to cut that power source off. Its beams can be dimmed temporarily in different areas by the ash from volcanic eruptions, but the winds usually carry even that away. If every roof, even in this country with very mixed weather and seasons, had solar power, then there would be much less reliance on other forms of non-renewable fuel. Any attempt to avoid potential danger from nuclear power should, in my opinion, be taken. The risk may be small, but the result is devastating.

But, of course, money rules and oil is lucrative. I think few have been misled and most people realise that grabbing a lion’s share of oil was the true and underlying reason why the recent wars were fought. Other countries, which are unimportant in this matter to the rest of the world, are allowed to kill their own people.

In the prophetic book by George Orwell ‘1984’, ‘some pigs (his metaphorical characters) were more equal than others. Never has that truth resounded more clearly. Billions will soon be spent on building football stadiums in a wealthy desert country, when millions of children are dying of hunger and thirst in another country with famine and drought.

Do I digress? Not really. Power is needed for pumps for transporting clean water or for desalination plants, for sanitation, for irrigation for growing crops. The sun shines up above continually, the technology is there, yet these children and their mothers are somehow not counted and not included. Why? I don’t know. Why are some people more equal than others? I judge people. Yes, I do, but only in their behaviour.

In my medical experience, all humans are conceived and born via the same act, all have brains and bodies which live, breathe and feel and all are of equal importance in the creation of the world. All are different but none have determined where they should be born nor have they decided their parentage. The main difference is that some are fortunate and some are not, and this is a very cruel world if you are on the wrong ‘side’ of the fence of recognition.

Anyway, a dear uncle died and his legacy has bought us some independent power. How much use will it be? We shall have to wait and see. But, I question any decision of the government to slow or maim solar innovation. On the contrary, batteries for use in power cuts should be perfected etc so that they can store surplus for use as necessary. It is an industry which should be increased to its maximum, for householder’s roofs and factories alike.

That would happen if the government’s intention was based on true understanding and belief rather than solely influenced by power, money and the energy industries’ continued greed. Of course, we must accept that the electricity and wind power companies or nuclear power magnates would not want solar power to be extended to the potential detriment of their profits.

We shall all reap what we sow, and that will include the high and mighty as well as the lowly and poor. Only humans make these distinctions.

The one thing that is even more certain than that the sun will continue to shine is that we shall all die at some time. Then all will have to account for their behaviour during life – nothing else will be of importance in determining a future existence.

 CopyrightACoatesworth Nov 2011