We all like to show our concern for the environment, but, let’s face it, the “Day after Tomorrow” won’t be in our life time, and why should we stop doing the things we love, simply to avoid a disaster which may never happen! They may not say it, but I’m sure this is the way most people think, and it is pointless to expect politicians to be any different. On the other hand, if modern technology could be used to harness the powers of nature, the cost of energy would be free – and virtually untaxable. Now that might change people’s perception, and make it in everyone’s own personal interest to care about the future of the planet.

This is no dream. Greenhouse gases produced by modern fossil fuels are largely responsible for global warming, but we already have travel which is environmentally friendly and gas free. The modern yacht uses wind power. A 30 foot sailing boat can cross the Atlantic or race around the World in heavy weather. No motor cruiser the same size could ever cover the same distance – it would have to carry so much fuel, it would sink before it left harbour! Modern yachts require electricity to power their instruments, the fridge, and above all, the ship’s radio. Power for this is provided by batteries, which are constantly being recharged - usually by wind generators, and sometimes by solar panels.

Wind generators tend to be bad news. Wind farms are unpopular because they look hideous, make a lot of noise, and spoil the open countryside. Last year, when crossing the North Sea in a friend’s boat, we passed through a gas field. There was a series of huge platforms, rising out of the sea like huge cities on stilts. A guard ship was on patrol to prevent ships running into them. Now, if we can put oil and gas platforms in the middle of the North Sea, why can’t we build off-shore wind farms out of sight of land, where there is an abundance of natural power which will never fail or run out?

I know of a remote holiday cottage in Scotland. There is no electricity other than the power provided by batteries which are recharged by a small wind generator, which is hidden in a coppice. Power is free!

And how about solar power? The small solar panel on my yacht only provides a trickle of power, so as to take several days to recharge the boat’s battery. There are more powerful versions. Two years ago, two Masai guides, armed only with sword and spear, took Diana and me on a walk through the Masai Mara National Park in Kenya. We climbed a hill, which was crowned by a huge modern communications tower. There were no pylons or underground cables – only an array of solar panels.

Clearly, solar panels near the Equator in sun drenched Africa might not be so effective in our damp climate, but they do work in cloudy as well as in sunny conditions. Even in the UK, solar panels are cropping up all over the place. We see them by traffic signs – the ones that tell us to slow down when we are going too fast! We see them at Sea and in harbours – most lights on navigation buoys use solar power – there is a solar powered navigation light at the entrance of Scarborough Harbour, for example.

There are already family-size electric cars with top speeds of 60mph and a battery range of 55 miles. The batteries can be charged either from an ordinary domestic supply or, very much more rapidly, from a “magna-charge inductive charging paddle”. In California, there are charging stations, which look like petrol pumps, and which are themselves supplied exclusively from solar panels.

In the USA it would be more expensive to run an electric car than one driven on fossil fuels, if the cost of replacing the batteries every 2 years is not taken into account. This might not be true of the UK, where petrol is about four times more expensive than in the US. A range of 55 miles may seem small, but would cover most peoples’ daily travelling requirements. If the fuel cost could be reduced to nothing, the majority of the public might prefer to drive to the station and use public transport for longer journeys. And wouldn’t this be the “Integrated Transport Policy” which every politician likes to talk about, but none is prepared to deliver?!

So, could solar power be used to make the cost of travel free? Houses have already been built, which derive most of their energy requirements from solar panels on their roofs. In Australia, electric cars have been built with solar panels in roof and bonnet, which charge the car batteries. At the moment these are very small and very light, but, even so, one has a top speed of 85mph, and another a distance per battery charge of 170 miles and a top speed of 62 mph.

Of course, no government would want to develop and promote a form of motoring which would deprive the nation of a valuable source of tax revenue. However, as most of the world’s oil reserves are controlled by countries with instable governments threatened by fanatics, which would like to drag their countries back to the far from ideal religious purity of the Middle Ages, it may soon become politically expedient to develop solar and wind energy as a real alternative to fossil fuels.

In short, this is not science fiction. We are not talking about eliminating greenhouse gas emissions the “Day after Tomorrow”: the necessary technology is already within our grasp today. We are talking about a technological revolution which could transform the way we live and work – a revolution more dramatic than the IT revolution, a revolution which would save the planet without pain and reduce consumer energy costs as well – an environmental revolution.