There does seem to be an awful lot about electricity and a working electricity grid that the renewables fans do not understand.

One of the main things is scale. By my calculations, the UK's largest powerstation would need at least 200 square miles of solar farm to replace it. That might work in the US or Australia but not in tiny places like the UK and Japan.

Electricity is the epitome of "just in time" processing. It travels at the speed of light so if you turn on your oven there is not much time to respond. Producing more than you need an hour before is no help at all.

In the UK, electricity from renewables gets the priority so if they have electricity you have to use it and their price is guaranteed by our taxes. They can charge as little as they like and the deficit will be made up by the government. They have no obligation to provide a consistent supply.

So it is like trying to run a pub or restaurant where someone can turn up at any time in a van loaded with food and the punters have to get all their food from there until they run out. Your business has to plan to supply 100% of requirements but can be deprived of that business at any time with all the losses that imples.

Your business and suppliers will also provide the lion's share of taxes for VAT, fuel tax, excise duty, exploration rights, corporation (profits) tax etc.

After fossil fuels are gone so too will all those taxes and I bet they will fall on the renewables companies to return them. They will also need to pay for the required backup systems for when the sun is not shining. If anyone could be bothered to do those sums first they might not be quite so keen on renewables.

And that is before we have the issue of replacing tens of thousands of square miles of mirrors, solar panels, wind turbines and storage systems every 30 years or so. In fact, it will need to be a continuous process. The last facility will not be built before the first one needs replacing.