Being Green is Not Enough

by John Maryon

One must applaud the principled stand taken by those caring and concerned people who are determined to defend the delicate balance of nature on our home world. People who recognise the importance of restricting carbon emissions, preventing pollution and the destruction of vital habitats.  Urgent action is necessary to preserve the rich eco-system of plant and animal life, including ourselves.  Sadly there are others, who through greed and ignorance, blindly carry on along a road that can only lead to the possible extinction of the human race leaving  a dead and toxic planet to drift in space. 
There are many important battles to be won, but in order to  achieve a lasting effectiveness it is necessary to understand the reasons for and deeper implications of any course of action.  Under a socialist system there is no reason or excuse to destroy the environment.  However with capitalism, where quick profits and market forces dominate, the well-being of the people is frequently of lower priority than the need to make more money.  Hence  the polluted rivers, deforestation, dumped rubbish, radioactive discharges and poor air quality in many places today.
Many energy systems still rely upon fossil fuel, presenting a difficult problem that will take time and investment to overcome.  In Britain and other countries we face particular challenges for both domestic heating and transport. To cut carbon dioxide emissions it is desirable to replace home heating boilers fired with natural gas with a green alternative which could be electricity, heat pumps or green hydrogen.  Essentially all three alternatives require green electricity as the primary energy source. Carbon free electricity can be produced by wind turbines, solar panels, hydro power, tidal power or nuclear. All come with their own challenges. Wind turbines won't work if there is no wind. Solar panels are unproductive during the night. Hydro and tidal opportunities are limited and nuclear power has its own risks.  A major question is could the national electricity grid cope with the new demands without enormous investment?
 So the solution is not simply a question of banning this or that.  It requires long term investment and planning as opposed to the operation of market forces. It requires socialism. 
Similar problems are encountered with transport. We are encouraged to buy electric cars, but preferably not the cheaper and technically advanced Chinese ones.  Again how will the national grid and local networks cope with the big new demand for electricity.  If you live in a house with room to charge the car on your driveway an electric car offers a good choice. If, however, you live in a flat or congested urban area you have to find a charging station which could be a more expensive option. The government dithers and has put the target date for fossil furled cars back again.  Contrast our situation with that of socialist China.  They have an integrated transport system with  over 50 km of high speed rail and are the largest producer of electric vehicles.  The infrastructure necessary to support their ambitious plans is being built now as an investment for the future and to meet their objective of hitting carbon neutrality before 2060. Clean energy, high-tech innovation including AI and committed leadership from the Communist Party of China will combine to achieve these goals. 
In Britain today the disastrous privatisation of the electricity industry has created serious challenges and  resulted in some extraordinary situations.  Drax power station near Selby was built to burn Yorkshire coal. Today a power company receives billions in subsidies for the burning of wood pellets sourced from the United States and Canada. The process is classified as a renewable one but documents show that some of the wood was obtained from old woods that were rich in wildlife habitats.  In another example of farce, wind turbines connected to the national grid are able to supply electricity when the wind  blows. The problem is that for approximately one third of the time that power is not required and the grid struggles to cope. It is estimated that £1.3 million was paid by the government to temporarily switch them off.  Such occurrences cost the taxpayer dearly and when taken alongside the imperialist sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines contribute to making Britain's energy costs soar.
It is the policy of the New Communist Party of Britain (NCP) to take both the gas and electricity utilities back under full state ownership. To be owned and operated for the benefit of the people and also to expand their scope to cover the production of green hydrogen.  The  planning, construction, and operation of energy systems would be placed into the hands of engineers who could plan long term for future needs free from short term get rich quick scams. A return to sanity would soon see energy costs start to fall. Workers would be represented on the Energy Board and lots of apprenticeships created.
Energy cannot be considered in isolation.  A fully integrated public transport system fully owned by the people is essential along  with more investment into high speed railways. Only a state owned system can look ahead to balance needs with resources and avoid a short term approach that does not build for the future. It is also the aim of the NCP to restore water supply and storage to full public ownership. Jeremy Corbyn's proposals for free broadband to all homes and business by 2023 could be achieved with public ownership of essential parts of the Telecom industry.  Banking and financial services need a shake up. Whole communities are often left without a bank as local closures continue.  We need a secure state owned bank  to provide a full range of services, at competitive rates rates for domestic customers and small businesses.
There are many people in the green and conservation movements who see the problems that we all face today as single simple issues. The threats and challenges are appreciated but they may only have a vague idea of why things are going wrong and what can be achieved to move forward.  Only a socialist approach that tackles the root causes of a growing crisis can provide a lasting solution.  We have to rid society of greed, disrespect and an obsession with profits. The dreams of those who seek a sustainable future within a caring society are values that we share.  Their struggle requires a political element to enable society to move forward.  Come and join the NCP and help us in the class struggle to turn those visions of a beautiful new world into reality.

Clean Energy for a Greener World

China's independently developed 30-megawatt pure hydrogen gas turbine

by John Maryon

Before the Industrial Revolution got underway the demand for energy was modest. Humans lived within the limits of nature to replenish what they had consumed.  Intrepid sailors were able to sail on their long journeys round the world, without consuming any fuel for propulsion by using the energy of wild and unpredictable winds. Windmills were a common sight grinding corn for their local communities and the new growing towns. Waterwheels had by 1500 become the principal source of motive power and were to make a significant contribution to the coming great era of factory expansion.
Two great inventions however were to lead unprecedented  changes. First the perfection of the steam engine in the 18th century followed by the internal combustion engine at the end of the 19th. The arrival of steam saw coal production rise by 500 per cent between 1750 and 1850. And so began an age of dark mills, blackened buildings, thick fog and congested lungs. With the arrival of petrol and diesel even greater pollution was placed into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide levels began to climb and the planet slowly started to become warmer. The greenhouse effect has become a subject of great concern. It is very real and the evidence is there for all to see. However there are those who through ignorance deny reality and still others who know but keep quiet to appease the fossil fuel lobby. 
Today we do have many answers to the great challenge of the age. If greed, profiteering and selfish indulgence, all symptoms of acute capitalism by the way, can be overcome we may face the future with more confidence. People’s China with its 1.4 billion population and enormous industrial capacity has an urgent need to prioritise carbon reduction. Importantly it has responded with impressive actions in stark contrast to those who preach and condemn while achieving nothing.  China  is able to produce electric vehicles that are superbly innovative, of top quality and at a third of the cost of Western products.  Their impressive high speed rail network continues to expand rapidly and become technically more advanced. China produces solar panels and wind turbines on a vast scale. Impressive dams have tamed surging rivers to provide an abundance of cheap hydro-electric power. 
China is investing heavily in scientific research with the aim of providing practically unlimited amounts of low cost, carbon free electricity, safety and without pollution.  Two of those important areas are worthy of merit. The first is fusion in which energy is released when atoms are fused together, like a miniature sun. In 1958 the Soviet Union became the first country to build a small experimental Tokamak reactor using confinement technology.  The challenge is to contain very high temperature plasma using powerful magnetic fields and to sustain it for an extended period of time.  The fuels for the process are isotopes of hydrogen which occur in abundance and the waste products consist of the inert gas helium, plus tritium. The latter is radioactive but has a much shorter half life than the heavy elements resulting from fission. Compared to conventional fission processes fusion is much less hazardous to the environment and human health. Today China is building a prototype 20MW reactor and is closely collaborating with a number of European states. 
Secondly an intrinsically more safe type of fission device, the Thorium Based Molten Salt Reactor, is being developed.  With thousands of years of fuel supply the technology will be in great demand worldwide. Basically the process works on the Thorium cycle. The safe primary fuel, Thorium232, is bombarded with neutrons to transform it via two beta decays  into fissionable Uranium233. The system can breed more fission fuel than consumed. This fuel is contained in a  molten salt liquid which can be easily drained out in an emergency.  The liquid fuel mixture also  expands as it heats reducing the fission strength of the reactor fuel which reduces the heat output contributing to ensuring greater safety. The technology makes small and portable reactors possible. The United States has considerable technical experience but it is China that is putting the technology to good use. Currently a large container ship with such a power source is being constructed. It will be able to sail the seven seas for decades without refuelling, saving vast amounts of fossil fuel consumption. It would also be able to economically travel greater distances so avoiding sea areas that an adversary could easily block. 
Hydrogen is an excellent fuel that is green and clean at the point of use and can be used for domestic heating, internal combustion engines and industrial processes.  However up to now unless it was produced by electrolysis of water to make oxygen and hydrogen using green electricity most commercial output was achieved by the cheaper process of steam reforming of natural gas.  This method releases emissions of the greenhouse gas Carbon Dioxide.  A new technology plant built in China's Jilin province is hailed  as the world's largest integrated green, Hydrogen-Ammonia-Methonal project. The first phase of the state owned enterprise plant will produce 450,000 metric tons of green hydrogen each year representing 20 % of China's requirement in addition to other green chemicals.  It will save over 600,000 tons of coal annually. The plant makes excellent use solar and wind energy reinforcing an integrated approach that contributes to China's transition to a modern industrial structure.
People's China has shown the way forward towards a world of shared abundance that remains green, sustainable and affordable.  Without vested interests to lobby for denial or a short term approach that neglects essential infrastructure investment the country forges ahead.  In the Western economies people remain cold in fear of facing expensive heating costs while factories close when faced with prohibitive energy prices they become uncompetitive .  A lack of forward planning, years of neglect and under investment within a capitalist market driven by the obsession for maximum quick profits has been fatal.  Matters have been made much worse in Europe due to their sanctions on cheap Russian energy which has created the highest gas prices in the world.  And we should not forget, or forgive, the tragedy of imperialist wars and conflicts that leave desperate families huddled together cold and hungry in their tents while an uncaring elite pretend that they cannot hear the children cry. 
The world needs to wake up before it's too late. Before the rich diversity of plant and animal life is destroyed, crops fail, severe weather events increase and a run away greenhouse effect overheats our planet.  China has been able to demonstrate that socialism can provide both the technical means and  necessary conditions for overcoming the challenges that lie ahead.  We need socialism and we need it now.  So let's step up the class struggle, as we enter 2026, and work together for a better world!

Nuclear power and the Green agenda

 by Ben Soton

The Poverty of Green Philosophy – A Marxist Case for Nuclear Energy in a Cooperative World by Bill Sacks and Greg Meyerson. Carus Books, 2026. Paperback: 400pp, rrp £21.99.

In this detailed study Sacks and Meyerson deliver a Marxist case for nuclear energy.  They also undertake a critique of Green Philosophy; both its eco-socialist and eco-modernist (pro-capitalist) variants. Their argument centres on the failings of Renewable Energy and they accept the existence of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) –  the process of climate change since the Industrial Revolution.  
Sacks and Meyerson claim that although solar and wind power are free and in abundant supply they are highly inefficient; resulting in a very low Energy Return on Investment (EROI).  Their study points to the high input of land required for both solar power and wind farms, combined with a low output. They state that waste solar panels are highly polluting and that both forms of renewable energy lack the efficiency of nuclear power.  The precious metals required for the production of solar panels would result in price rises for materials already needed for the production of consumer goods such as computers and mobile phones.  Perhaps the crux of their argument is that nuclear fuel can be re-used whilst uranium can be extracted from seawater; making its supply almost endless.    
Strong Nuclear Force, the strongest force in the known universe, holds together the nuclei of atoms.  If released through nuclear fission it can produce enormous levels of energy, with a subsequently high EROI.  Sacks and Meyerson attempt to reassure us about the safety of nuclear power plants and concerns over radiation. The accidents at Chernobyl in 1987 and Fukushima in 2011 were not the same as nuclear bomb blasts but steam turbine explosions and the corresponding damage done by radiation has been exaggerated. Meanwhile they remind us that radiation is omitted from numerous sources including rocks, various food stuffs including bananas as well as mobile phones, microwave ovens and building materials.
Sacks and Meyerson make coherent case against the Green Left. They argue that an economy based entirely on renewables would result a net drop in energy use and a subsequent decline in economic growth and living standards. As one would expect they are highly critical of the “small is beautiful” argument put forward by the economist E F Schumacher. 
Schumacher favoured small scale, handicraft industry over large scale production claiming that capitalism had destroyed locally based handicraft industries. Central to this view is that nuclear power, with its highly centralised power plants is inherently capitalist; whilst renewables, which tend to be much more dispersed are inherently socialist. The authors advocate control over the nuclear industry by a socialist state. In other words socialism means scaling up not scaling down. 
It should be pointed out that renewables are still in their infancy compared to both nuclear and fossil fuels. The first wind farm in Britain opened in 1991 whereas the use of nuclear power dates back to the 1950s.  Why not advocate greater research and development into renewables; with a view to using them alongside nuclear power?
Meanwhile with climate-denialism on the rise, a critique of it might be a good idea; however the book presents some excellent arguments about the failure of capitalism.  Sacks and Meyerson’s argument is nonetheless a highly valuable contribution to the ongoing discussion around the obvious need to de-carbonise energy production.

Protecting our Beautiful Blue Planet

 By John Maryon

Yuri Gagarin was amazed as he observed the natural wonders of the Earth from the Soviet spacecraft Vostok 1 on 12th April 1961. The world's first cosmonaut said " Orbiting the Earth in the spaceship, I saw how beautiful our planet is. People, let us preserve and increase this beauty, not destroy it".
    Pollution and the depletion of natural resources affect our quality of life but the greatest threat to all life on Earth comes from global warming caused by a build-up of greenhouse gases. The most important are Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and Fluorinated Gases in addition to the presence of water vapour. These gases allow sunlight to pass through but have far less transparency to infra-red radiation reflected back from the Earth's surface. This greenhouse effect could develop into a runaway form such as is believed to have destroyed the environment on Venus causing the oceans to boil away.
    Carbon Dioxide, (CO2), released from burning fossil fuel is the major cause of global warming and climate change. The problem is being made worse by the destruction of rain forests in Brazil and other areas which retained large quantities fixed carbon. Until recently the US administration was in denial of the problem, driven by political and commercial motives. They have now rejoined the Paris Climate Accord and accepted that action has to be taken. Global temperatures have almost reached the 1.5 °C limit and urgent action is required.
    The Paris agreement to limit temperature rise allowed individual countries to set their own targets taking account of trees, soil and oceans to absorb CO2. Climate finance would be made available to enable poorer countries to adapt and switch to renewable energy.
    The New Communist Party's policy for a Planned and Integrated Energy Strategy highlights the challenges facing Britain and puts forward active measures to overcome the problems. Privatisation of energy utilities has made essential planning virtually impossible due to the desire for quick profit and short termism. We call for full public ownership of the power generating capacity and supply networks. The infrastructure does not exist for a rapid transfer to all electrical vehicles making the shift from private car and road freight to public transport and rail goods transport important. Investment is required to convert all existing diesel rail links to electric, restoring rural bus services and for the development of hydrogen engines that only exhaust water vapour as they produce power.
    A balanced and safe energy mix for electricity generation will require more investment into land and off-shore wind farms, solar power, tidal and wave energy. It may be possible in the near future to collect solar energy from space with large collectors and beam it down to Earth.
    Coal fired power stations could possibly be equipped with carbon entrapment technology. CO2 is then captured at source and transported to an underground storage area. Such power plants or a new generation of much safer nuclear units are required as base stations for those times when the sun does not shine or the wind does not blow.
    Nuclear power remains an option but it is controversial and comes with its own risks including the problems of nuclear waste storage, high decommissioning costs and possible pollution. Current proposals for joint Chinese/French ventures are in jeopardy as the government comes under increasing pressure from the US to cut investment ties with China. Energy from nuclear sources is a risky proposition due to the catastrophic events which may result due to human error, technical failure, cyber-attacks, natural disasters, war or terrorism. Reactors may be of a type that can breed fuel for nuclear weapons or to produce further energy. Future developments may include more advanced types of Reactor such as the Molten Salt unit that uses Thorium as fuel and may have certain advantages from safety and security considerations. Many now consider that Fusion will be the power source of the future.
    The New Communist Party is firmly opposed to fracking technology to extract gas from rock formations; a process which can pollute water tables and cause subsidence. Fracking increases CO2 levels by producing more fossil fuel, that was locked away, now to be burnt. During the operation there is the risk of releasing methane into the air and water systems.
    Many northern British cities still bear the scars of the Industrial Revolution. Blackened stonework on buildings being testament to the grim reality of the environmental destruction that was caused. Moths and butterflies developed into new sub-species to blend with the soot.
    Britain possess the technology to become carbon zero. The NCP calls for all new homes, schools and public sector buildings to be developed in this manner. A combination of solar power, heat pumps to upgrade ground-heat and solar heated water, along with improved levels of thermal insulation can make a big contribution. Tree planting and green spaces are essential to absorb CO2.
    It is not only climate change that causes concern. We live in an age of colossal waste and rampant pollution in which we are consuming our natural resources faster than they can be replenished. A build-up of microscopic plastic particles and nuclear waste dumping by Japan into the Pacific along with oil spills all contribute to the contamination of the seas. Fish and small mammals struggle to cope in our polluted rivers. Greater efforts should be made to make the polluter pay the price.
    One of the more obvious areas of concern is that of packaging. Plastic bags are out but but the problem goes much deeper. Most packaging includes plastic rather than card or paper. In many cases it is totally unnecessary being solely a means of making the product more attractive. It should be made a legal requirement that almost all types of packaging should be capable of being recycled. More domestic appliances are now unrepairable and often it is not possible to even replace batteries. We have become a throw away society. It is less costly to dump in developing countries than to bother with recycling. Inbuilt obsolescence, trendy fashion and dubious marketing gimmicks are the hallmarks of a capitalist market.
    We clearly cannot continue in this manner. A strong political will and the acceptance of a shared responsibility for our actions are required. The NCP calls for new policies and a new way of thinking that puts environmental issues above the greedy pursuit of profits. Communists will respect and live in harmony with the natural world including all the other creatures with which we share a common home.
    In 2019 China manufactured 80 per cent of the world's solar panels. The US instead of applauding this achievement has made attempts to wreck the industry by making unfounded allegations of human rights abuses to curb sales. It is the gas guzzling US itself that is a major cause of world pollution and shows little respect for both its own citizens or others with its permanent aggression to bomb and sanction the world.
    The New Communist Party stands with the Greens in their sincere and noble aims of protecting our planet. We also believe, however, that success involves a greater political dimension that tackles the ideological causes behind the problems. Environmental protection cannot be considered in isolation. It needs to be seen as a part of the larger class struggle.