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LONDON, England, March 29, 2006 (Refocus
Weekly)
The British government will provide an initial
£50 million to support microgeneration technologies to be installed
on 25,000 buildings.
“Our supply of energy should be stable, secure and competitive,
and environmentally sustainable,” chancellor Gordon Brown says in
the budget. The allocation of £50 million will “make it possible for
homes and businesses to generate their own renewable energy. The
purpose of this £50 million fund is to show how we can make these
technologies from wind turbines to solar heating, affordable to
schools, housing associations, businesses including local authority
tenants - initially 25,000 buildings.”
“The developed world has a responsibility to help developing
economies meet their energy needs in an environmentally sustainable
way,” and Britain will propose a world bank facility with a $20
billion fund for developing economies to invest in alternative
sources of energy and energy efficiency. “Our second ambition is for
Britain to be a world leader in the discovery and development of new
energy technologies,” adding that “Britain has a unique opportunity
to lead the development of all low carbon technologies in order to
meet the challenge of climate change.”
The government has obtained support from a number of major energy
companies to create an energy and environmental research institute
in for Britain that will put the country “at the cutting edge of
science and engineering; our aim is that public and private sectors
together raise finance of one billion pounds.” To help UK companies
commercialize new environmental technologies, Brown allocated an
initial sum of £20 million as seed funding for an enterprise capital
fund for the environment and the review of the country’s climate
change program will include additional incentives and support for
smart metering and labeling of energy efficiency.
The climate change levy, climate change agreements and carbon trusts
have reduced carbon emissions in Britain by 28 Mt, which will allow
the country to meet its Kyoto targets. The climate change measures
will reduce emissions in each of the next five years by 6 Mt,
accounting for 40% of total carbon reductions by 2010 and, because
the climate change levy has prompted 10,000 companies to sign
climate change agreements, Brown rejected calls to abolish the levy.
In response, the Renewable Energy Association says the budget risks
one of government's major policies to address rising GHG emissions
from the transport sector because the incentives and targets for a
green fuels standard will not be enough to transform the biofuels
market. The Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation was announced in
November 2005 to take effect in 2008, and require 5% of total volume
of road transport fuels to be derived from renewables by 2010.
“Government has chosen to gamble with the success of its biofuels
policy and has put at risk half a million tonnes of carbon savings
each year,” says Graham Meeks of the REA. “Strong penalties under
the RTFO will be vital in transforming the market, and delivering a
fifteenfold increase in biofuels by 2010.”
The European Union has adopted a Biofuels Directive that establishes
a target for 5.75% of energy content of road transport fuels to be
derived from renewables by 2010. That level on the basis of energy
content is equivalent to a target of 8% by volume.
The £50 million budget for micro-renewables is “fantastic news,”
adds Gaynor Hartnell of REA. “We were hoping that this would be the
year when micro-renewables really takes off, what with the
publication of the micro-generation strategy, and the minister's
obvious enthusiasm for the sector.”
“An additional £50 million for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme is
a welcome sign that the government has been listening to us about
the massive potential in this sector," he adds. “Our members had
been getting increasingly anxious about the transition into the Low
Carbon Buildings Programme, due to start next month. This
announcement will not just provide relief, it will be celebrated.”
“This new money nearly trebles the amount of government support
available for capital grants under the DTI's new Low Carbon
Buildings Programme,” says Seb Berry. “It is a very significant
boost to the sector at a time when our members are reporting
increasing consumer interest in domestic renewable energy systems.”
“This is a good budget for clean energy,” says trade secretary Alan
Johnson. “The new National Institute for Energy Technologies will
draw together public and private sector funds to make the UK a
leader in research into low carbon solutions. In addition, a £50
million boost for microgeneration and £5 million to pilot smart
metering will help bring about the long-term shift that is needed in
our relationship with the energy we use in our homes and
workplaces.”
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