There was cause for celebration when new figures revealed that the UK had saved £1.7 billion from energy efficiency investments over the last 5 years. With many projects developed in the industrial, service and domestic sector.
As this was announced, a new audit produced by the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE), had reported that the Government should update current policies in its new industrial strategy, in order to continue this level of energy efficiency.
Nine organisations including industrial manufacturers and environmental groups Greenpeace joined forces with the ADE to share their vision, on creating a low carbon Britain through a common purpose to cut energy waste.
Greenpeace Chief Scientist Doug Parr said:
“Industrial strategy shouldn’t just be about productivity of the workforce but productivity of the raw materials like energy. Making more out of the energy we have to use in offices and factories will deliver lower imports and lower carbon. So it ought to be a starting point for the new infrastructure, and should be a focus of both the Autumn Statement and expected industrial strategy.”
The report states that the UK has a long way to go in order to reach its 2030 energy targets, as the UK’s power bill topped £140 billion in 2015, with only a 2% increase in efficiency supply. It is simply not enough that the UK Government relies on renewable generation but must take the necessary measures to promote and enforce energy efficiency.
At the same time statistics taken from Germany, France and the Netherlands show they have enforced better energy efficiency policies than the UK since 2011.
ADE Director Dr Tim Rotheray commented:
“The industrial strategy provides a key opportunity to implement the right polices that will not only support business competitiveness, but drive energy productivity in the UK economy and help us meet our carbon goals.”
Opinion
361 Degrees are pleased to read that the UK are slowly increasing energy efficiency and notice that £1.7 billion saved enough energy to heat 13 million homes, which is a good start. We should take this positive and use it to motivate more energy efficiency investments by the Government. We understand that hard work and funding is needed in order to achieve our 2030 energy targets, which will need to be a conscious effort by all businesses.
