Britain cannot live on its own renewables under its current lifestyle and consumption levels.

Added to korrents 5 Sept 2026 · How quotes work · Something wrong? Tell us

Where this collides

• Cannot both be true

  The United Kingdom is the one rich industrial country that cannot run on solar alone, and it has to build wind at scale instead.

  MacKay concluded that Britain cannot live on its own renewables at current consumption. Handmer agrees the UK is the hard case and reaches the opposite conclusion: it is the one rich country that cannot do it with solar, and it can do it with wind, at prices he puts as low as $10/MWh. One says the island does not have the resource; the other says it has the wrong plan.

Shared subject first, then similar wording. They may agree or disagree.

• Europe cannot meet its energy needs from renewables alone and will need nuclear power, solar power from deserts elsewhere, or both. DMDavid MacKay3 Nov 2008
• Britain's onshore wind resource, though large, is not as large as the country's energy consumption. DMDavid MacKay3 Nov 2008
• British people tend to oppose large-scale renewable energy projects even while supporting renewable energy in principle. DMDavid MacKay3 Nov 2008
• Biofuels cannot supply enough energy to matter for a country like Britain or to replace all transport fuels. DMDavid MacKay3 Nov 2008
• Renewables now account for the bulk of the growth in electricity generation, whatever their opponents believe. PKPaul Krugman26 Oct 2025

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