Climate change minister Greg Barker
The government has released its long-awaited Energy Efficiency Strategy,outlining how it will'transform'its policies on energy.
The Strategy highlights plans for a£38 million fund to create five centres to examine energy demand–and ways of reducing it–and plans to fund a nationwide roll-out of RE:FIT,the Mayor of London's programme to make the public sector more energy efficient.
The policy document also proposes a labelling trial with John Lewis,which will see the projected lifetime running costs of household appliances shown on the packaging.A similar trial in Norway showed this information led to consumers purchasing goods that are more energy efficient.
Greg Barker,energy and climate change minister,said:'We have put energy efficiency at the very heart of the government's energy policy.Using energy more wisely is absolutely vital in a world of increased pressure on resources and rising prices.Not only can energy efficiency help save money on bills and cut emissions,it can support green jobs,innovation and enterprise.'
While welcoming the news,the Chartered Institute for Building Services Engineers(CIBSE)has criticised the scope of the announcement,saying that the government's plan to reduce energy consumption by 11 per cent by the end of the decade did not go far enough.
CIBSE released a statement which said:'The deteriorating energy picture would suggest that we need to act right now to make a difference,'adding that'using technology and engineering know how that is already within our reach…we can slash fuel usage by up to 50 per cent.'
David Fisk,president of CIBSE said:'Managing energy may seem a bit of a boring,technical backwater down in the boiler room.It is anything but.It can help us to keep the lights on,keep the less well-off warm,reduce our dependence on imported energy,reduce the levels of investment for new generating capacity and contribute to a stronger economy.'
David Symons,director at environmental and sustainability consultancy WSP Environment and Energy,agreed that the government's proposals would show little immediate effect.
He said:'These measures will take time to have an impact.The frustration is that there are plenty of measures that would have a more immediate effect,like providing a stamp duty rebate for energy efficiency in homes,or the strengthening and better enforcing of building regulations.'