The future rapidly approaches: Britain warned blackouts may be 'regular occurrence' by winter of 2015

In general, as we speed towards our corporatized future of turmoil and energy shortages, I've noticed a pattern in the progress of western nations, particularly Britain, the U.S. and Canada. Generally it seems that when it comes to all things surveillance, police state, or other forms of preparation for the inevitable outcome Britain tends to be roughly 5-10 years ahead of the U.S. while Canada is roughly 5-10 years behind the U.S. The latest coming trend for the U.S. and Canada will be internet censorship which the U.K. has already spearheaded, and implemented, under the guise of child pornography even though it's now being revealed that many other websites - much of them political - are caught in the middle.

Britain's censorship model is actually based on a whitelist, not a blacklist. This means that instead of singling out sites to block, they block everything and single out sites to allow. A clear indication this model extends far beyond "child pornography".

I'm not sure if the lag time between countries and implementation is intentional, or just sort of a natural flow these government's have gotten into in their own preparation but in any case it appears the big event is coming for Britain pretty soon which means the U.S. and Canada should follow within the next 20 years.

Britain is in "no danger" of suffering blackouts due to energy shortages, David Cameron has insisted, dismissing fears that the energy crisis could see power cuts become "the norm" by winter 2015.

Appearing before the Liaison Committee, the Prime Minister said that keeping the lights on was "the most important energy policy objective" - implying it takes precedence over both going green and keeping prices affordable, generally accepted as the other two main energy policy aims.

But Mr Cameron insisted it was also "realistic" for the Coalition to claim it had delivered on its pledge to be the "greenest government ever", citing £33bn of investment in renewable energy since 2010.

The Prime Minister was challenged by Tim Yeo, head of the energy select committee, who cited warnings from regulator Ofgem that Britain's spare power-generation capacity could fall to very low levels within two winters, increasing the risk of blackouts.

"Are you worried the Coalition's legacy might be that the first winter of the next parliament might be when power cuts become the norm?," Mr Yeo asked.

But the Prime Minister said he had personally received assurances from energy regulator Ofgem and power companies that this would not happen.

“I held a meeting around the Cabinet table with Ofgem, National Grid and the leading players and sought assurances: is there anything we need to make sure there is no realistic prospect of this happening?

"The information I have is: now we have put in place the Energy Act, now we have the capacity mechanism, and now crucially we have the ability to use short-term mechanisms - taking plants out of mothball if necessary, bringing them back online - there's no danger of that happening," he said. "I looked them in the eye asked questions."

My god, where to even begin? I guess we'll started with the first highlighted paragraph.

"the Prime Minister said that keeping the lights on was "the most important energy policy objective" - implying it takes precedence over both going green and keeping prices affordable, generally accepted as the other two main energy policy aims. "

Keeping the lights on takes precedence over going green, and more importantly keeping prices affordable. Affordability of energy, and subsequent economic effects (IE: housing), has become a central theme of this blog. As we descend further and further down the slope of peak oil affordability is going to become more and more of an issue. Yet, for some reason, so-called "experts" and economists don't seem to be including this unaffordable future in their forecasts of "recovery" and "spending" and "rising interest rates".

"The Prime Minister was challenged by Tim Yeo, head of the energy select committee, who cited warnings from regulator Ofgem that Britain's spare power-generation capacity could fall to very low levels within two winters, increasing the risk of blackouts."

Two winters left to go, maybe 3 if Britain is lucky and things play out really well and their newly revived fracking plans go off without a hitch. Ultimately, though, this is when the real unrest starts. This is the moment governments have been covertly preparing for while promising a future of economic prosperity in full knowledge no such future is coming. David Cameron sounds like he's denying the possibility exists but in reality with admittance of the need for these short term measures he's fully admitting it is a very real possibility, he just doesn't want the Brit's to treat it as such. Keep your confidence up folks, borrow more, and for god's sake don't prepare!

"The information I have is: now we have put in place the Energy Act, now we have the capacity mechanism, and now crucially we have the ability to use short-term mechanisms - taking plants out of mothball if necessary, bringing them back online - there's no danger of that happening," he said. "I looked them in the eye asked questions."

 This is perhaps the most important indicator of the type of future we have and how little resources remain to properly repair and expand infrastructure. Whether it's the U.S. extending the lifespan of nuclear plants, or old "mothballed" plants being reactivated, disaster certainly looms. When I talk about the new normal and the pending man made disasters it is actions like these along with "cost cutting" and other bullshit economic shell games which will be primarily responsible.

Western countries still are not willing to admit how dire their economic circumstance is and by extension how bad their resource circumstance is. Throw geopolitics and the energy wars into the mix and the decline will be much faster than it would be were conditions favorable as Cameron and other western leaders assure you they are.

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Richard Fantin is a self-taught software developer who has mostly throughout his career focused on financial applications and high frequency trading. He currently works for CenturyLink

Nazayh Zanidean is a Project Coordinator for a mid-sized construction contractor in Calgary, Alberta. He enjoys writing as a hobby on topics that include foreign policy, international human rights, security and systemic media bias.