The Institute for Public Policy Research, a UK centre-left think tank, has published a report, Power to the People, calling on the government to cut emissions and tackle climate change by preventing the building of huge new nuclear power stations, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and instead encouraging small scale energy production by centralised policy making.
These conclusions are based on the use of new technologies that will allow central heating boilers to generate electricity, drastically reducing the amount of energy wasted. At present more energy is dissipated in Britain’s cooling towers than is needed to heat every building in the country. By 2020 modern homes will also incorporate PV roofs (solar panels), solar thermal water heating, remote switching for water heaters and refrigeration equipment. New public buildings will have some form of self-generation or renewable heating and cooling built in.
Such a scenario would mean that Britain could provide its energy needs in a secure way, whilst reducing dependence on fossil fuels and phasing out nuclear power, but government would have to create the right market framework by abandoning liberalisation and introducing tougher market regulation to encourage a decentralisation of electricity generation and the efficient use of heat, (rather than penalising it as the New Electricity Trading Arrangements have done, according to the author), set up ‘micropower zones’ to demonstrate the value of a decentralised energy system, and step up economic incentives to cut energy use and reduce carbon emissions.
