Every house should have an energy label, and energy standards for new buildings should be “drastically improved” the report adds.
The report was commissioned by government in 1997 to review the nation’s energy prospects and the environmental implications.
“The government’s climate change programme goes some way to meeting the [UK’s] Kyoto obligations,” the Commission said, “but is not sufficient to achieve a 20% CO2 reduction by 2010”.
The Commission welcomed the government’s proposals for a climate change levy, but one based on the quantity of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of energy supplied, rather than one levied on consumers.
A tax on the upstream purchasers of the fossil fuel “would give producers, distributors and consumers of energy an incentive to switch to sources which produce fewer emissions”, says the Commission’s report.
The Commission also called on the government to use tax revenues to reduce fuel poverty and to “improve radically the energy efficiency of the worst of the UK housing stock”.
It also proposed the creation of a Sustainable Energy Agency to provide “impetus for the improvements in energy efficiency and the...development of renewable energy resources”.
While accepting that nuclear power could play an important role in reducing the UK’s CO2 emissions, the Commission concluded that no new stations should be built “until the problem of...nuclear waste has been solved to the satisfaction of the scientific community and the public”.
The Commission found considerable potential for disposing of carbon dioxide in deep geological strata, which was thought possible for emissions from large installations such as power stations.
Energy – the changing climate can be downloaded from the Royal Commission’s web site at www.rcep.org.uk
Source
Building Sustainable Design
