When I discussed Scotland's energy supply on Radio Scotland a few weeks back, I shared the airwaves with a Green Party spokesman. I pressed him (I forget his name) on how energy was to be generated on cold still nights, and was told that we needed research into energy storage technologies.
That's fair enough, although the obvious corollary is that we are stuck with fossil fuels in the meantime.
It's interesting therefore to see the green movement declaring today that we just don't need any fossil fuel generation at all. This comes in response to the Conservatives' warnings that we risk the lights going out.
SCOTLAND must build new power stations if it wants to keep the lights on beyond 2025, opposition leaders will warn today.
A massive new gas-powered plant could be built at Longannet which looks poised to shut down within the next decade, according to the Conservatives.
But environmental bodies have dismissed the claims, insisting that Scotland can continue to power itself from green sources like wind and hydro.
Clearly the greens know that the lights will go out if the wind fails to blow on a winter's night unless we have conventional generation capacity on hand. It's interesting to ponder then why they persist in telling journalists that we can allow all these power stations to close. And why the journalists don't call them out on it.