Solar Not Oil

The effects of relatively small changes in temperature are demonstrated on the Antarctic Peninsula, where a warming of 0.50C a decade has been observed. Vast areas of ice shelf are disintegrating. Penguin colonies are disappearing as their main food source, krill, is affected by decreasing sea ice. If the Earth continues to warm we could see:

• Increased spread of disease around the world
• Flooding of many of the world's small island states and coastal regions
• Prolonged heat waves leading to severe droughts in some areas
• Huge numbers of people fleeing their homes in the wake of environmental disasters.

The UK government accepts that the planet is threatened by climate change. In spite of this it is licensing massive new oil fields to expand oil production well into the 21st century. We cannot afford to burn more than a quarter of the fossil fuels we have already discovered. To go searching for more is lunacy.

It has chosen to allow this huge expansion of the oil industry in one of the last truly global wildernesses - the area known as the Atlantic Frontier. The Atlantic Frontier lies to the north west of the UK. It is the richest habitat in Europe for whales and its coastal habitats and seas are of world-wide importance for birdlife. Such an expansion has huge implications for our ability to control the rate of climate change in the next century. We must change our attitudes towards energy. The needs of the environment dictate that we halt oil exploration NOW. We can then begin to reduce our reliance on oil, coal and gas until we have phased them out altogether and switched to renewable energy such as solar electricity.

Power from the sun is clean and renewable. It is so abundant, that the amount which the earth receives in 30 minutes is equivalent to all the power used by humankind in a year. Each year the amount of energy, falling as sunlight on UK buildings, is greater than the UK's annual oil production. Converted into electricity this could meet almost two - thirds of our electricity needs. Instead of using solar energy we continue to rely on polluting fossil fuels, ignoring the very real threat of climate change.

Solar electricity is non-polluting and is the only electricity generating, renewable technology that can be mass deployed in our towns and cities. Half of the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come from energy use in buildings. Twenty four solar panels installed on a house will meet 50% of an average family's electricity needs over a year, thus avoiding the emission of approximately 40 tonnes of carbon dioxide during the lifetime of the system. The UK Government could support the development of solar technology. £17.5 million of taxpayers money is used annually to subsidise the fossil fuel industry. By investing this money in the UK's solar industry instead the Government could help to make affordable solar electricity a reality.

Early advocates of solar power were seen as 'pioneers' and thought to suffer all the hardships that the description implies: unreliable power supply; public ridicule and personal sacrifice. Today's solar technology paints a very different picture. Dr Susan Roaf lives with her two sons in a five-bedroom, detached house in Oxford. While appearing like any other house from the front, at the rear there are 48 solar panels incorporated into a south-facing roof. Over the course of a year these panels provide all the family's electricity. A glance around the house's interior puts to flight for good all previous misconceptions held about solar living: Says Dr Roaf, 'We love it here and I want to see homes like mine becoming widespread, with the technology to build them becoming cheaper', ' I have all I want in a home - high comfort, low bills, clean energy - and I'll be able to run it on my pension! Why settle for less?'

Climate change is happening now. Governments around the world have finally accepted that fact. Earlier this year Greenpeace took action to highlight the contradiction between the UK Government's commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the current expansion of oil production in the Atlantic Frontier. Activists installed a fully working 20 square metre facade of solar panels on the Department of the Environment's new building, Eland House.

This was followed with a challenge to all the UK political parties. They were asked to commit themselves to putting solar panels on 50,000 roofs by the year 2010, partly funded by the £17.5 million of taxpayers money currently used to subsidise fossil fuels. Scientists warn that a rise in the Earth's temperature of more than 1oC could cause extensive damage to its fragile ecosystems. If we are to avoid a catastrophic rise we certainly should not be looking for new coal, oil and gas fields. Instead we should start a planned phase out of fossil fuels and begin the switch to sane renewable energy. British Petroleum (BP) is one of many oil companies exploring for oil at the Atlantic Frontier. BP is leading the way with new, deep sea technology and will be the first to produce oil from the area. However, it also professes to be concerned about climate change. It says that it 'regards global warming as a serious issue and actively participates in the debate to find solutions to this problem'. As BP has a profitable and expanding solar subsidiary it shouldn't have to look very far to find those solutions.

This was pointed out by Greenpeace, when activists installed BP solar panels on the roof of the BP Exploration HQ in Aberdeen. The solar array was erected around a sign reading 'Stop Oil, Start Solar'. In December this year the world's governments will meet in Kyoto, Japan to agree legally binding targets for greenhouse gas emissions. It is a real opportunity to take the first step towards halting dangerous human interference with the climate.