Sustainable Development UK

Tough Targets

Amid a challenging backdrop of recession and the echoes of a European gas crisis climate change and energy secretary Ed Miliband is conscious of a growing need for a wide array of low-carbon energy sources. He faces the difficult task of delivering the foundations of an energy mix that will allow the country to reach its ambitious target of cutting emissions by 80% before 2050 and achieve a 34% reduction by 2022. Speaking to SDUK, he asserts: “As supplies become more politicised, we need as many different technologies as possible open to us to increase our energy security.”

This mix will need to include nuclear power, Miliband continues, as it is both low -carbon and secure. “That’s why in January last year our nuclear white paper committed the UK to the development of new nuclear power stations, so long as the government is satisfied that arrangements exist or will be in place to safely dispose of waste. Nuclear power is low-carbon, dependable and capable of increasing the diversity of our supply, and is one of the answers in our efforts to prevent climate change and keep the lights on.

“We’ve taken some big steps towards next generation nuclear in the year since the publication of our white paper. The industry continues to gear up to invest and we are on course to see new nuclear feeding into the grid by 2018. EDF has firm plans for new reactors on British Energy land, and other companies have started to form joint ventures.”

It will not be possible to scrap the use of fossil fuels immediately, he admits. “In the short term, there will be a need for the continued use of fossil fuels. But the government is determined the imports of those fuels should be diverse and the emissions from them capped by the emission trading scheme. We have had reliable energy supplies for decades and the industry has shown that it is responsive, and it is already building to meet future demand.”

The country needs a wide spread of technologies if it is to achieve its goals, he insists, explaining: “Increasing our development of renewable energy sources is absolutely vital if we are to meet our climate change targets. The UK government played a leading role in European negotiations towards a 2020 energy package, agreed in December. The agreement will see Europe cut emissions by 20%, increase energy efficiency by 20% and source 20% of its energy from renewables – all by 2020. Under this deal, the UK’s share is 15%.

“In the UK, we’re working hard to meet these ambitious targets. We are now the world leader in offshore wind power, following the completion of work at the Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farms near Skegness. Offshore wind farms now have the potential to power the equivalent of around 300,000 UK homes. Overall, we’re now getting 3gW of our electricity capacity from wind power – enough to power more than 1.5 million homes.”

Miliband has also considerable ambitions for tidal power. He comments: “I also recently unveiled a proposed shortlist of schemes to generate clean, green electricity from the power of the tides in the Severn estuary – the second highest tidal range in the world. The shortlist includes a mixture of barrages and innovative lagoon schemes, and the largest proposal has the potential to generate nearly 5% of the UK’s electricity from a domestic, low-carbon and sustainable source.

“At the domestic level, we’re encouraging the development of microgeneration of heat and power from renewable sources, such as wind, solar and biomass, by households and communities. Both the Renewable Heat Incentive and feed-in tariffs will offer financial reward for householders who decide to generate their own energy, for example by installing ground or air source heat pumps, or investing in solar panels.”

However, while reducing the carbon cost of energy used is an essential part of cutting the country’s environmental impact, simply minimising use itself is a major goal, Miliband continues. “The cleanest form of energy is the energy you don’t even use in the first place. That’s why energy efficiency is starting point for our efforts. Use less, pay less, emit less, need less. Simple as that.”

Ed Miliband, secretary of state for energy and climate change, spoke to Felicity King-Evans, editor