Friday 4 October 2019

Boris Johnson: ‘We can beat the renewable energy sceptics’

Boris Johnson: ‘We can beat the renewable energy sceptics’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the UK "can beat the renewable energy sceptics" and be a world leader in clean infrastructure.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference earlier this week, the Prime Minister said British technology is the key to a low carbon future, citing the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy as an example.

He said: "Thanks to British technology there is a place in Oxfordshire that could soon be the hottest place in the solar system - the tokamak fusion reactor in Culham - if you go there you will learn that this country has a global lead in fusion research."

He added the facility could soon help deliver "virtually unlimited" zero-carbon power and reminded the audience that "it was only a few years ago when people were saying that solar power would never work in cloudy old Britain and that wind turbines would not pull the skin off a rice pudding", despite these technologies now "delivering more than half our energy needs".

He also spoke about transport: "We want to make our buses cleaner, greener, zero carbon, zero emission, across the country."

Mr Johnson said he would encourage people to use public transport and "get the cars off the roads" in order to reduce congestion and emissions.

He added: "In the West Midlands we are seeing a 21st century industrial revolution in battery technology. One-in-five of the electric cars sold in Europe is now made in the UK.

"With infrastructure education and technology we will drive up the productivity of this country and bring it together."

At its party conference, Labour unveiled plans to invest £3.6 billion in charging networks “to jumpstart the transition” to electric vehicles.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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