Renew On Line (UK) 54

Extracts from NATTA's journal
Renew, issue 154 Mar-Apr2005

10. Efficiency Drives

In his Pre-Budget report last Dec, the Chancellor allocated £20m to a new fund to ‘accelerate the development of energy efficient technology’- £10m per year in 2006-07 and 2007-08.  The new fund will  be managed by the Carbon Trust, who will seek match funding from the private sector. The Chancellor also announced an Energy Efficiency Innovation Review, to be undertaken jointly by Defra and the Treasury, which will examine ‘how technological, policy, financial and organizational innovation, by Government, business or consumers, can best contribute to a longer-term step-change in energy efficiency’. The review will feed into the review of the UK Climate Change Programme.

Meanwhile, the governments new Housing Bill accepts the 20% target for the improvement in energy efficiency from 2000 levels by 2010, as originally recommended by the Performance and Innovation Unit (PIU). This was welcomed by the Energy Saving Trust: “Our analysis shows that with the right policies, the household sector alone could improve efficiency to save 120 TWh of energy and 8 million tonnes of carbon each year by 2010. This represents savings a little beyond the PIU suggested target”.

In addition, under the provisions both of the Bill and of EU law, all homes when constructed, sold, or rented out, will require an energy performance assessment, which will include recommendations on cost-effective energy efficiency improvements and is likely to form part of the proposed Home Condition Report. EST said that “Combined with other legislation, such as mandatory installation of condensing boilers, which comes into force next April, the Housing Bill will have a really positive impact on efficient energy use and reduced carbon emissions in the UK”.

To move things along, the Government has also proposed doubling the level of the next stage of the Energy Efficiency Commitment (EEC) due to run from April for six years.  Under the current EEC, electricity and gas suppliers are required to encourage and assist their domestic customers to make energy savings- through measures such as cavity wall and loft insulation and energy efficient boilers, appliances and light bulbs. The government says that this has proved to be ‘an effective and practical way to encourage householders to embrace energy efficiency and enhances the proactive approach already taken by energy suppliers to engage consumers in the issue of climate change’. 

The  new EEC was expected to deliver annual savings of about 0.7Mt of carbon per by 2010. The target for the second period, 2008-2011, will be set in 2007.  The Government  says  that  it ‘intends the EEC to continue to make a contribution to the alleviation of fuel poverty, by requiring suppliers to focus at least half of their increased energy efficiency activity on low-income consumers’.  The draft Order also included incentives for energy services and to support the development of innovative products, such as micro-CHP.