Why I'm confident we don't need nuclear power

When I point out that we don't actually need nuclear power, the most common response is "Really, are you sure?" People are nervous about what happens in the winter and when the wind doesn't blow. 

So here's a run-down of the evidence that we don't need nuclear.

1. The UK's renewable energy potential far exceeds our demand for electricity now - and our likely demand in the future.

We have vast amounts of renewable energy available to us - see for example the work by the government-industry body The Offshore Valuation Group. We've even been described as the Saudi Arabia of renewable power. And although wind power is an intermittent source of energy (the wind stops blowing from time to time) studies have shown that there is a strong correlation between electricity demand and the wind blowing (the wind blows when we need electricity). Oxford University did a very detailed long-term study that exposed the myths around the lack of wind.

Other sources of renewable energy - like wave and tidal - are also highly predictable and allow us to store energy. Tidal lagoons can store energy, as can pumped storage sites.

And we can build a European super-grid to allow energy to be shared across Europe.

2. We waste astonishing amounts of energy. Simply cutting this waste reduces the need for energy supply.

UK homes are so poorly insulated that £1 in every £4 spent heating our homes is wasted. The products we use in our homes could be much more efficient. As well as cutting energy demand and carbon pollution this would save European consumers around €44 billion a year. Improving the way we travel could reduce energy demand further.

3. Lots of very well-informed scientists say it is possible.

• David Mackay, Chief Scientific Officer for the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said it is possible to provide the energy we need and reduce carbon emissions without nuclear. See his book 'Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air'.
• Respected European consultancy Ecofys has just published a major 2-year study showing that the world can produce virtually all the energy we need from renewable sources (except for aviation and shipping - where sustainable renewable power options are not easy to come by). 
• The European Climate Foundation, a major funder of climate research, produced a comprehensive research report working with businesses, government officials and businesses that said a 100 per cent renewable future was possible while maintaining current standards of reliability of electricity supply.
• Even the clever new Department of Energy and Climate Change model shows a non-nuclear future is possible while still meeting carbon-reduction goals.

The fact is we can, if we choose, provide the energy we need without nuclear power. The question is - and debate should be - should we choose to? Friends of the Earth's view on this is clear and well known. Others will have a different view. What the country needs, especially after the Japanese nuclear accident, is an informed societal debate.

We hope the Coalition Government will be open to such a debate rather than doing what so many previous governments have done - which is taking nuclear power as a given.