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Energy Bill

moved Amendment No. 56: 56: Before Clause 80, insert the following new Clause— ““Energy usage in homes and businesses The Secretary of State shall, in each calendar year following that in which this Act is passed, lay before Parliament a report on— (a) total energy consumption in domestic housing, and (b) total energy consumption by businesses.”” The noble Baroness said: The noble Lord, Lord Whitty, was going to speak to Amendments Nos. 64 to 66, but he kindly sent me a note to say that he was not able to be here. I hope that he is here in spirit if not in body. The Bill primarily concerns the production of energy and generation of electricity, but it is scanty about what happens when the energy gets to homes and businesses. That is a dangerous oversight, for not focusing on efficiency in homes and businesses can have a serious impact on our energy security as well as our emissions. Reductions can and need to be made. The new clause that we are proposing would require the Secretary of State to make a report on energy use in homes and businesses. That report would be done with an eye to locating instances where efficiencies could be made. In 2005, UK CO2 emissions totalled 550 million tonnes of carbon, 27 per cent of which comes from the energy that we use to heat, light and power our homes, yet only 10 million or 40 per cent of our homes are sufficiently insulated. That fact seems shameful when one considers that around a third of the heat loss from an insulated house is lost through the walls. Proper installation would fix that and take around £90 a year off energy bills. Not only would that benefit the average consumer, it would help the industry in the UK as a whole. It would save £720 million-worth of energy and 9 million tonnes of carbon—the equivalent of the power required to supply 1.8 million homes. Strides are being made by businesses that encourage insulation and other energy-saving measures. However, there needs to be a shift towards a more serious consumer awareness of the importance of energy efficiency. As my friend Charles Hendry said in another place, we in this country are not very good at switching things off. According to the Energy Saving Trust, leaving mobile-phone chargers and lights on contributes an additional 43 million tonnes of CO2 annually to the atmosphere. The estimated energy loss for the period 2006-10 is £11 billion. The UK could reduce its electricity requirements by 3 per cent simply by switching things off when they are not in use. I do not need to expound further on the benefits that that would bring to our energy security and our efforts at mitigating climate change. An annual report would be a welcome first step in analysing where further efficiencies can be found. If we are going to effect change in the way we think about energy, we must remember all the different places where savings can be made. I beg to move.