Energy Security and Green Economy Bill
As a Member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, I have been following the Government’s Energy Security and Green Economy Bill closely. Last week I spoke in a debate in the House of Commons highlighting what will be one of the Bill’s most important measures, namely promoting energy efficiency through the ‘Green Deal’.
In the on-going debate on how we can secure our future energy supply, we must concentrate just as much on saving energy as on producing it. The Green Deal is on target for several reasons, the policy will help make energy efficiency affordable for all, both for people who own and rent their property. It is a is a pay-as-you save scheme where Green Deal customers will get the money up-front to make energy efficiency improvements of their property in the form of a loan. It is anticipated that the loan amount may be up to £6,500. The loan repayments would then attach to the energy bill at a property, rather than to an individual.
The most energy inefficient homes in the UK could save, on average, around £550 per year. Clearly, this policy will also create jobs in manufacturing, both in the Bracknell constituency and across the country. It is projected that were all 26 million households to take up the Green Deal over the next 20 years, it will support a quarter of a million jobs over the next 20 years.
Going forward we must also concentrate on finding new ways of generating energy. I believe that this country needs to become as energy independent as possible through low carbon sources. In order to succeed in this task, we must no longer rely on how we have produced energy in the past, but must look to the future and find new forms of generating energy. In my speech I drew attention to two areas of energy generation, marine technology and thorium nuclear energy. UK is surrounded by energy, through tidal power and waves; water is just the medium that transmits that energy. To my mind, it is essential that we utilise these energy sources and I am pleased that the Government has allocated funding for further research into marine technology. Finally, I spoke about energy from thorium. Thorium is a raw material that produces 250 times more energy per unit of weight than uranium in the present reactors. Unlike a uranium reactor, a thorium power station would produce no plutonium. Consequently, the waste produced from burning thorium in a reactor is not a security risk. It is three times more abundant than uranium in the earth’s crust and is found in Cornwall and in Wales. It strikes me as an obvious thing for us to go for.
At a time when Britain has significant economic challenges, the Green Deal is a win-win-win policy: it helps families, individuals, and businesses. I am pleased to support this innovative course of action from the Government.