Energy White Paper: government must try harder

The government’s Energy White Paper aims to triple the amount of electricity from renewables by 2015, build the world’s first carbon capture and storage plant and pave the way for the return of nuclear power in a 20-week public consultation.

The government also wants to see smart meters in every home and business within the next 10 years and wishes to see appliance energy efficiency improved via carbon emission reduction targets for energy suppliers.

The paper was unveiled by trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling. “With the measures we are proposing we can cut emissions by between 23-33 million tonnes of carbon by 2020 – the equivalent of removing all the emissions that we get from every car, van and lorry on Britain’s roads today,” said Darling.

The Renewable Energy Association (REA) welcomed individual measures in the White Paper, but said much more will be needed to achieve the 20% contribution that renewables must make to total energy in order to meet the binding European target.

“Yet again this document scores top marks for rhetoric, but must try harder to match this with effective action”, said REA chief executive Philip Wolfe. “It pays lip service to local energy production but only addresses centralised power. It mentions important technologies like renewable heat, biomass and smart metering, but has no measures to bring them into the mix. And it has no proposals for energy efficiency and renewables in the 25 million existing homes, which will still be consuming energy for decades to come.”

The Construction Products Association also attacked the government for its lack of action to improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings. “Just 1% improvement in the existing stock’s carbon emissions would be more than equal to making a whole year’s new build carbon zero,” claimed Rita Singh, environment and industry performance director for the Association.

The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) said that the White Paper missed an important opportunity to confirm the role that renewables should play in working towards a sustainable future.

The inclusion of nuclear power and its promotion contrary to the judicial review ordered by the high court has, as CIBSE and others predicted, taken the emphasis away from energy efficiency and renewables and focused it on an option that is still highly uncertain, said the institution.