UK Finance Minister's budget: key energy-related announcements

Important energy and environmental announcements made by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in his Budget statement included:

• An increase in the climate change levy, in line with inflation, from 1 April 2007.
• An extra 250,000 installations of subsidised insulation in British homes over the next two years
• Funding for local authority-led publicity and incentive schemes for energy efficiency
• Trialling the use of 'smart' energy meters
• A new voluntary initiative with major retailers to reduce the energy use of consumer electronics.
• A new National Institute of Energy Technologies, in partnership with the private sector.
• An additional £50 million to develop microgeneration technologies and the launch of a consultation document on the barriers to large-scale commercial deployment in the UK of carbon capture and storage.
• Reforms to the tax on road vehicle (vehicle excise duty - VED) to sharpen environmental incentives.

Full details can be found here

and the full Budget speech here

Is nuclear the answer?

'Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change or security of supply', according to the Sustainable Development Commission, chaired by Jonathan Porritt. So no surprises there. Set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair in 2000, the SDC is the UK Government's 'independedent watchdog on sustainable development'.

Published today, 6 March, in response to the Government’s current Energy Review, the SDC nuclear report draws together what is claimed to be the most comprehensive evidence base available, to find that there is no justification for bringing forward a new nuclear power programme at present. Based on eight new research papers, the SDC report gives (it is said) a balanced examination of the pros and cons of nuclear power. Its research recognizes that nuclear is a low carbon technology, with an impressive safety record in the UK. Nuclear could generate large quantities of electricity, contribute to stabilising CO2 emissions and add to the diversity of the UK’s energy supply.

However, the report states that, even if the UK’s existing nuclear capacity was doubled, it would only give an 8% cut on CO2 emissions by 2035 (and nothing before 2010).

SDC's full position paper: 'The Role of Nuclear Power in a Low Carbon Economy'

Evidence Base Papers
Paper 1: - An introduction to nuclear power – science, technology and UK policy context
Paper 2: - Reducing CO2 emissions - nuclear and the alternatives
Paper 3: - Landscape, environment and community impacts of nuclear power
Paper 4: - The economics of nuclear power
Paper 5: - Waste and decommissioning
Paper 6: - Safety and security
Paper 7: - Public perceptions and community issues
Paper 8: - Uranium resource availability

» Full press release