Energy efficiency agenda at risk

Speaking at the CIBSE/All Party Parliamentary Reception at Portcullis House in December, Colin Challen, chair of the All Party Group on Climate Change and a member of the Environmental Audit Committee, said government departments would lose interest in the energy efficiency agenda if the demand for energy is met through the construction of more nuclear power stations.

He said: “If the government satisfies future power demand by building more nuclear power stations, that will take the heat out of the need for energy conservation”.

The MP also warned that funds for energy conservation work would be used for nuclear power.

Challen said: “The Government has just started an energy review; if the nuclear option is chosen, it will drain investment in energy management that would have contributed to carbon emission savings”.

CIBSE is currently developing its policy on nuclear power, which is due to be considered by its board in January.

In a statement, CIBSE said: “Our members are not concerned with energy generation in the public sector but [are] users of that facility in their day-to-day work”.

In November, Challen launched the Climate Change (contraction and convergence) Bill. The Bill aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (contraction), while setting out a system where the amount of emissions that can be emitted per capita are distributed equally – so individuals that emit more than their quota will have to buy credits from individuals (usually in less developed countries) that emit less than their allocation.

Challen also used the reception to raise awareness of his campaign for a system of “carbon rationing” to reduce the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. This would work by restricting the amount of CO2 that UK citizens can release into the atmosphere each year under a system called Domestic Tradeable Quotas.