Archived press release

Energy efficiency could prevent gas supply problems

4 January 2006

The Government must prioritise reducing electricity consumption and making homes and offices more energy efficient in response to concerns about the security of our future gas supply, Friends of the Earth said today (Wednesday 4th January). Housing could be made at least 60 per cent more efficient, the group said, reducing domestic energy bills and crucially cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a major cause of climate change.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt with the Met Office revealing last month that the northern hemisphere was experiencing its warmest ever year in 2005. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 11 years [1].

The environmental campaign group said that much of the UK's electricity and heat could come from clean and safe renewable sources, combined with more efficient use of scarce fossil fuels.

The group highlighted three key steps which could reduce the UK's long-term dependence on fossil fuels:

• Saving electricity by switching all new light bulbs to energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs, and in future to the new LED bulbs; reducing "stand-by" losses on appliances and promoting a switch to more energy efficient motors in industry could cut electricity demand by almost 10 per cent over the next 10-15 years . These measures combined could save roughly the equivalent output of 5 nuclear power stations (lightbulbs only = 1 nuclear power station) [2].

• Better insulation in the home and in work places could save massive amounts of energy. New buildings should be built to higher energy efficiency standards and more investment should be made in home energy efficiency programmes. The Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University has suggested that the UK's housing stock could be made 60 per cent more efficient while according to the Carbon Trust, UK business wastes £1 billion a year in lost energy [3].

• Generating electricity and heat from renewable energy sources, including micro-generation in houses and offices, tidal lagoons, wave and tidal power, on-shore and off-shore wind power, and the use of biomass could contribute 30 per cent of our electricity by 2020.

In addition, using more efficient gas-fired combined heat and power plants could be 40-50 per cent more efficient than conventional power plants.

The campaign group added that current supply problems must not be used as an excuse to justify uneconomic and polluting nuclear power.

Friends of the Earth's Senior Energy Expert Germana Canzi said:

"The UK wastes a terrible amount of energy. Dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and the urgent need to tackle climate change mean that we must change our wasteful ways. If the Government is serious about fighting climate change and ensuring energy security then it must urgently prioritise saving energy and generating electricity and heat from clean and safe renewable sources. It is time for a shift to the modern energy age"

Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to commit to cutting carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas - by around three per cent every year. It is backing a Climate Change Bill with The Big Ask Campaign (www.thebigask.com). Despite the growing evidence of the impacts of climate change, UK emissions of carbon dioxide have increased since 1997 and rising gas prices this winter may lead to a further increase in emissions as more coal is burnt.

Notes

[1] www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2005/pr20051215.html

[2] www.eurocopper.org/eci/archives/docs/ ¬
PK%20EN%20Motor%20Challenge122003.pdf (PDF)

[3] See Environmental Change Institute: www.eci.ox.ac.uk/pdfdownload/energy/40house/chapter04.pdf (PDF†)

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust