Building & Design

UK plans to convert to a low-carbon economy warmly welcomed

The UK Government’s plans unveiled yesterday to transform the country into a low-carbon economy and achieve binding cuts in emissions have met with a warm welcome.

David Clarke, chief executive of the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI), commented:
“The announcement is a big step forward, but this is just a beginning. Now the reality has to step in and the Government has got to get on with delivery.”

“The targets are difficult but achievable,” he told Energy Efficiency News. “They will require a focus on innovative engineering technology, where the ETI will be key. But the plans will also necessitate a societal acceptance of potentially higher energy prices,” he cautioned. And most crucial of all, the Government’s plans rest on the setting of a realistic price for CO₂, he believes.

Tom Delay, chief executive of the Carbon Trust said:
“We need a seven fold increase in renewable energy generation in just eleven years. This can be achieved but will require not just a transformation in technology, but in political, economic and industrial thinking. We will need Herculean effort.”

He added: “[The] announcements are very welcome because they significantly reduce investment risk, make some clear choices on UK technology advantage, and tackle some of the key barriers to deployment. But the true test of this new clean tech industrialism is how this new policy framework drives the action and investment needed from business.”

Neil Bentley, CBI director of business environment, welcomed the announcement as a promising start.

“However, question marks remain over the ability of these plans to attract the £150 billion of private sector investment needed to renew our energy infrastructure, improve energy security, and allow us to meet climate change targets,” he said.

The general public will be the ultimate driver of actual change, he added, through their buying power and how they use energy at home.
“We want to see today’s proposals turned into real support available to every household as quickly as possible,” he said.

John Alker, spokesperson for the UK Green Building Council (UK-GBC) echoed the CBI’s comments, saying:
“The UK’s number one priority has to be energy efficiency to help cut emissions and customer bills. It is essential we that we invest in a massive programme of energy efficiency in our homes and buildings.”

He welcomed the ‘pay-as-you-save’ scheme to help cover the costs of energy efficiency improvements to homes, but says a clean roadmap for the non-domestic building sector is still lacking.

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) and the British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) also broadly welcomed the Government’s plans. The REA says the announcements mark a step-change in the UK’s political leadership, although actual delivery of increased levels of renewables will still prove a crucial test.

Environmental groups are also supportive of the plans, although there are concerns that they do not go far enough fast enough.

“This is possibly the first time a UK Government has shown it is serious about this issue,” commented Keith Allott, head of climate change at WWF-UK. “[But] despite positive steps in some areas, the Government is still not pushing hard enough in others.”

The WWF is calling for the Government to take firmer action on decarbonising the power generation sector to take a lead at the forthcoming talks in Copenhagen this December.

For further information:
www.energytechnologies.co.uk/
www.carbontrust.co.uk/
www.cbi.org.uk/
www.ukgbc.org/
www.r-e-a.net/
www.bwea.com/
www.wwf.org.uk/

16 July 2009

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