NEWS RELEASE

I issued the following press release on 13.04.2006

ENERGY REVIEW: MP CALLS ON PM TO MAKE GOOD ON HIS ‘RENEWABLES RHETORIC’

In her submission to the Energy Review, deadline today, Lynne Jones points out the failure of the Government to act on the rhetoric of Tony Blair’s high profile speech on the environment of 6 March 2001 and calls on the Government to get back on track with its original energy policy. This emphasised the importance of energy conservation and investment in renewable energy.

 

Lynne Jones said “Five years ago the Prime Minister said that 50% of the world's energy needs could be met by renewables by 2050 and the role of Government is to accelerate the development and take up of these new technologies until self-sustaining markets take over”.[1]”   

 

“I quite agree with these points but the commitments implied in the 2001 speech have simply not come to fruition.  Investment in renewables has been miniscule in comparison with the sums being spent on dealing with the nuclear legacy. To now promote nuclear power as a solution to climate change and energy security is crazy given this age of terror-related threats and the limited supplies of easily mined uranium.  Current total funding for renewables should be of a similar order to that which was available to the nuclear industry during its period of peak research and construction. Then we could make past rhetoric a reality.”

 

“The Chancellor’s budget announcement of £50m for micro generation is a small step in the right direction.  But this should be only the start of a major long-term programme that can stimulate investment in mini and micro-generation and decentralisation of the grid as well as in renewable technologies based on wave and tidal power, for which the UK has 40% of the word’s resources.  Even in California there is a $2.6 billion programme to support photovoltaic installations on roofs – and this is a technology that could help power many developing countries without the need for expensive grid infrastructure or the need to go down the nuclear route and all that means for security.”

 

Lynne Jones has also supported the call for legislation to set a legally binding target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions monitored by an annual carbon budget.

 

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Notes to Editors: Lynne Jones submission to the Energy Review is available at:

http://www.lynnejones.org.uk/N00053energyreview.htm