Rising energy bills: ‘Price cap is not the answer’ (Energy Live News)The ADE claims that Ofgem’s energy price cap is not a good enough measure to combat hiking energy costsThe energy price cap is not the right way to tackle the ongoing crisis in the market.That’s the view of the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE), which calls on the government for more long-term support for consumers with rising bills.Ofgem’s energy price cap becomes active today, with the previous limit of £1,277 each year per average household, rising to £1,971 – a £693 jump...Click here to continue reading No10’s security strategy punts nukes, offshore wind & hydrogen towards 95% clean power by 2030, ignores insulation, new money & now (The Energyst)The Johnson administration’s strategy for UK energy security released this morning sets a new 2030 deadline for 95% of Britain’s electricity to be carbon-free. It thus strengthens the existing pledge for zero-carbon generation by 2035.But observers commented on its failure to address rocketing energy costs immediately afflicting Britain’s homes and businesses. Mass insulation and emerging technologies apart from hydrogen are largely ignored in the paper, the former in the wake of two expensive Conservative failures in eight years...Click here to continue reading ‘Economically and environmentally illiterate’: Green economy reacts to UK Energy Security Strategy (edie)The UK's highly-anticipated Energy Security Strategy should have gone further and faster on energy efficiency and onshore wind, with the Government missing opportunities to cut bills and emissions, according to a host of high-profile figures within the green economy.Prime Minister Boris Johnson first promised the Strategy “within days” on 9 March. After weeks of heated discussions within Government, including reported disagreements over issues including nuclear finance and relaxing planning rules for onshore wind, agreements have finally been reached. The full Strategy documents were published at lunchtime today (7 April)...Click here to continue reading Industry responds to Energy Security Strategy (Energy Live News)Britain will massively expand wind, solar and nuclear so that nearly all of its electricity comes from low carbon energy sources by the end of the decade.The government has unveiled its much-anticipated Energy Security Strategy to minimise its dependence on energy imports following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.But what does the industry think about the new energy plan?Click here to continue reading Energy efficiency missing from Energy Security Strategy (PHAM News)The much-anticipated Energy Security Strategy launched today by government has come under fire for its failure to address energy efficiency in the nation’s building stock.The Strategy focuses on demand-side solutions, setting out goals for solar, wind, hydrogen, and nuclear power. The plan is for the UK to acquire 95% of its electricity from low-carbon sources by 2030, and 100% by 2035.However, experts say the government has wasted an opportunity to help bill payers now, by ignoring energy efficiency solutions which can go a long way in the short-term to cut carbon and lower costs...Click here to continue reading It is time to make energy efficiency a national security issue (Foresight Climate & Energy)(Blog by Chris Friedler, Policy Manager, ADE)Reducing demand for foreign energy will help avoid future conflictsLet me get this out the way first—this is not another article about how energy efficiency in our buildings is a good thing. While I could talk about the benefits of tackling the climate emergency, lowering poverty and bringing down extortionate bills, I am going to assume you have heard all this before. What is new is the added dimension that the gas crisis and now the appalling war in Ukraine, adds to the humble but powerful world of retrofitting our leaky buildings.The obvious solution to breaking the hold of the gas crisis is reducing our reliance on gas, especially from Russia. Only 35% of the UK’s gas is used for electricity generation. Another 40% is piped directly into homes. When roughly half of our gas is through imports, and with declining gas production at home, even if we decarbonised the power sector totally tomorrow morning, we will still be reliant on imports.If the UK reduced gas demand, fellow European gas producing countries such as Norway could divert supplies to countries far more reliant on Russian gas, such as Germany and Italy. So, by deliberating and not acting on all sectors of the economy that are heavy gas users, the UK is actively preventing Europe from weaning itself off dangerous Russian gas and other ruthless autocracies. Drawn up this way, we can see a complex spider’s web of gas reliance across our continent and the world.If the UK truly wants to help reduce the world’s reliance on a dictator’s gas profits, rather than just its own reliance—not to mention climate change and fuel poverty—it must go further. Energy efficiency coupled with low carbon heating systems has been a route industry, political figures, campaigners and lawmakers (myself included) have advocated increasingly vocally for decades now.There are challenges around implementation, political will, cost, the pace of change and plenty more besides. But with the prospect of planetary collapse and the most vulnerable in our country putting their health on the line, what could possibly be more persuasive to the national narrative for a shift to warm homes and clean heating? Well, there is one possibility—national security.There is something about the immediacy of a national security debate that focuses minds. Psychologically, the direct link between using less gas and weakening the Russian war effort has fewer steps as a policy, than reducing gas demand as part of a package of policies across multiple different sectors as part of an international effort over several decades to keep global temperatures within acceptable levels.While very different types of policies, the speed of the UK’s delayed sanctions feels like lightning next to the more methodical nature of UK climate policy.On costs, while private finance desperately needs more room to fund those truly able to pay for the upgrade, subsidy schemes for vulnerable households will still be needed. Given the billions that have been funnelled into UK war efforts in previous years, the costs required for ending a key plank of the Russian war effort seem small in this context. This makes it a much more attractive prospect politically than finding new public spending for a new energy efficiency scheme.Part of the appeal of energy efficiency as a national security argument too is its fundamentalism. Many conflicts, both currently and throughout history, have an element of a clash over resources. Imagine the war on terror without oil or how much less tension there would be in the South China Sea if not so much imported fossil fuels were flowing through it. It does not automatically solve the conflict, but by surgically removing the resource at the heart of it, it lifts a critical anchor to the underlying tension.Ultimately, a fundamental shift in the approach to energy efficiency and decarbonising our homes will not happen overnight. But maybe if national security enters the national narrative on how we go about it, it will add another arrow to our arsenal in tackling all these issues.
