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Energy: White Paper

My Lords, that is interesting. British Energy might have done that, but I should have thought that the Government, who are meant to be procuring energy, would have done it themselves. In response to the multiple Questions that I have tabled over a couple of years, the Government have said that they have never undertaken a life-cycle carbon footprint assessment, and they have never shown any knowledge of that carbon footprint. Of course, we are also talking about the legacy costs of nuclear power, which will have a long carbon tail in the management of waste. However, if technology moves on and nuclear power is shown to be far more reliable and to have a far lower carbon footprint and an acceptable cost, I am sure that my party will look again at this issue. I congratulate the Government most wholeheartedly on the recent commitment to 20 per cent renewables by 2020. That is visionary and should be recommended. I believe that it is also achievable. The Severn barrage has been noted. If we are to meet that 20 per cent target, the Severn barrage must be considered, because 5 per cent of the country’s renewable energy coming from one source is not something that can be written out of the mix. However, I note that a report is soon to be published on this. The environmental impact has to be looked at. The environmental report considered the impact on the birdlife. We should not forget that global warming has resulted in the temperature in the Severn estuary rising by 1.5 degrees in the past 10 years. Whatever the cause of that—many people attribute it to global warming—it has displaced one of the bird species that was at risk from temperature rises, because it is has made the Severn estuary uncomfortable for that species as a breeding area. This should be taken into account. If we are looking at global impact, we cannot just say, ““We shall not have wind because it would destroy the view””. I live in a national park in Northumberland and I am very aware of the view and of the impact that wind energy has. However, I am also very aware that when we had very dry summers there was a massive risk of fire, and many of the native species in the national park were under threat due to lack of water. Global warming will increase periods of drought and will fundamentally change the view in national parks and their flora and fauna. On the underpinning of the White Paper, there is a slight problem, especially with the 20 per cent renewables target. The White Paper is based on the assumption of a high carbon price of around 30 ecus a tonne under the European trading scheme. If that is not realised, some of the underlying philosophy is at risk. There will also be a slight challenge for renewables, which, as the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin, said, were receiving ROCs. If the 30 ecus a tonne is not achieved, that would fundamentally challenge the concept of whether nuclear makes sense. I refer to the low-carbon generation offset of nuclear. Has any work been undertaken in the department? Is it looking at this problem? Does it believe that the price will remain high? If the carbon price collapsed, it would have a fundamental impact on the underlying precepts of the White Paper. The White Paper mentions a number of other issues. When I first read it, I thought that it had only one aim in mind—not whether but when we should have nuclear. I am not asking the Minister to say exactly when the first foundation stone is to be laid and whose name will be on it, because Greenpeace will write a letter—I shall happily send it a copy of Hansard to help it to write that letter. The problem with the White Paper is that it focuses on nuclear, whereas there are other extremely important aspects, energy efficiency being one of the main ones. I very much hope that the Minister will consider social tariffs and get Ofgem to look at them. There is an issue of fuel poverty in this country. You cannot just raise fuel prices and expect people not to suffer. However, if you use the Scandinavian model of social tariffs, whereby a set amount of energy is charged at a lower tariff, any higher energy user has to pay far higher charges for the excess energy that they use. That would be a good social indicator of how people could reduce energy use. This is not an insignificant issue. I recently had a meeting with the Nappy Alliance, which is for reusable nappies. A report came out on whether reusable nappies were better than disposable nappies. In energy terms, if you wash and dry the nappies, reusable nappies are not as good, according to the report. But if you hang out the reusable nappies on a clothes horse, suddenly the figures change around. We must look at social changes, because it is not difficult to use reusable nappies. I speak from the experience of having changed at least two this morning. I have an eight month-old baby, and I had just changed the nappy when I had to change it again, although perhaps that is more information than is worth while on a Thursday afternoon. Such changes can have a massive effect. People do not realise how much energy tumble driers use. Each bill is bolstered by an estimated £100 in those households that use tumble driers as opposed to those that do not. It is not a difficult situation to remedy; I think that you can buy a clothes horse for £12.99 in John Lewis. Another indicator is smart meters. The Government really must firmly grasp this issue. There is a conflict between those in the industry and those producing the meters over which type of meters should be put in. If you put in a basic meter, which are estimated to cost between £40 and £60, it will show very little information of value to the consumer. It will show quite a lot of information that is valuable to the generator, but not to the consumer. If you put in the meters that cost between £90 and £140, you could have information that is valuable to the consumer. For example, it could direct your washing machine or dishwasher to turn on in the middle of the night when energy is at its cheapest. That has a massive impact on the use of energy. It would also tell you how to switch energy suppliers. However, the nub of the problem is who pays for that. At the moment, the supplier pays for the meter. It is not a great indicator if you are supplying a meter that gives information on how to change to another supplier the minute that its energy is cheaper. The Government need to look at that issue, because an opportunity is being lost to introduce energy information that could save an estimated 10 per cent of domestic users’ energy supply. Another small issue is EPCs, or energy performance certificates. The two things that you can change to raise the energy rating of your house are your insulation and your boiler. If energy efficiency credits were used by companies to offset the cost of a new boiler, using the information from EPCs, that would have a massive impact on the use of gas by domestic suppliers, and it would help gas suppliers, who have an obligation to reduce the amount of gas that they use. I am fast running out of time, but I end on the cautionary note of carbon storage and capture. I commend the Government for having their competition for the first plant for carbon storage and capture. The unfortunate aspect is that two carbon storage and capture plants that were being built and were ready to operate have now gone offline, and their operation has been suspended because money is no longer available. Earlier, the Minister said that the Government did not want to put all their eggs in one basket, but we are going for one project and we have lost two, which is very unfortunate.