I WAS relieved to get to the end of John Dike's letter in the October 17 issue of the Courier, where I found that he lived in Coldridge. This meant that I found that I could probably agree with him that we both lived in a wonderful part of the world. But there is little else in his letter with which I cannot take issue. I am writing this because I would hope that those who had not made up their minds about what to do about climate change, were not misled by some of the assertions he made in his letter. He mentions subsidies for solar PV and wind turbines. He suggests that nuclear should be a part of a low carbon energy system. I think that we can probably agree that we should be aiming to establish a low carbon system in the UK as part of our need to reduce global warming. He should be aware that the new nuclear power station Hinckley C is to be built by a French company EDF and the National Audit Office are currently investigating the proposed contract for energy at £92 per MWhr, which is twice the current price, to determine whether the government subsidy is likely to give value for money. Solar PV panels have been around for much longer than 25 years, so there should be much more confidence in them and they come with a guarantee that their output will not drop below 80 per cent over 25 years. The technology is developing rapidly but I am unaware of any proposals which would involve coating panels with more silicon. Although they may have to be scrapped after 25 years, they do not leave a massive radio-active clean up problem, unlike that for nuclear power stations which EDF are having to deal with for Hinckley A. EDF have written that the Hinckley C station should have a working life of 60 years, but it is not clear how they will achieve this. Mr Dike seems to think that Anaerobic Digesters, ADs, need a large area of farmland to be used to grow feedstock. I have visited the ADs at SWWA Countess Wear works in Exeter and the smaller units at Crediton waste water treatment works and they do produce methane without needing any input from farm crops. It is also perfectly practical to operate digesters on food wastes, like the systems at Langage Farm near Plymouth and another at Holsworthy, but it is unlikely that sufficient food waste would be available in the Crediton area and this option is not being pursued at the present time. However ADs do produce waste sludge which is a valuable soil conditioner and contains some useful fertiliser constituents and this waste can be usefully put back on the land. He appears to intentionally misunderstand the objectives and way of operation of the proposed energy company. The objectives of the energy company will be to generate sustainable electricity locally and by doing so to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide associated with energy use in the Crediton area. The preferred method of doing this will be to mount photovoltaic cells on industrial and possibly school roofs. The schools and industrial units will benefit from cheaper electricity. Capital to provide the PV would come from investors, who would receive a good rate of interest and surplus income would be used for community benefit. This model works in Plymouth and does not involve the use of agricultural land or wind turbines. I think that the beauty of the Devon landscape will be protected if we can avoid excessive global warming which will alter the climate. We are already seeing how temperature rise has contributed to the spread of tree diseases affecting ash, chestnuts oaks and larches which were previously limited by temperature. To do this we all need to play our part by reducing energy use and producing more of the electricity we use from sources like solar and wind energy, which contribute far less to carbon dioxide production than coal, gas and oil. We owe it to our grandchildren to protect the world from irreversible climate change. John Boyle Westcott Fordton Crediton