Saturday, June 21, 2008

Britain's Green Revolution


The Guardian has managed to get a copy of the British government's $250-billion renewable energy strategy. The goal is to produce 15% of the country's energy from renewables by 2020 while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and reducing dependency on oil by 7%.

"The proposals include:

· New powers to force people to improve the energy efficiency of their homes when they renovate them;

· A 30-fold increase in offshore wind power generation;

· New loans, grants and incentives for businesses and households;

· An area the size of Essex to be planted with trees and other crops to produce biomass energy;

· Forcing people to replace inefficient appliances such as oil-fired boilers [furnaces].

Although the proposals are contained in a consultation document, the government has committed to hitting the 15% target and ministers accept most of the measures will have to be introduced to achieve it.

The government says the transformation of the country's energy policy will have "significant impacts on all our lives" but claims it will create big new markets and 160,000 jobs."'

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

But I think the smart British people must be asking this morning, "But won't this screw me?"

Ya think?

Anonymous said...

That was sarcasm, btw.

Good for the Brits!

Raphael Alexander said...

A lot of "forcing" in that article. Well, it's a wait and see proposal. It sounds like a good start, certainly better than a carbon tax. Of course they should consult with their native son James Lovelock on what good it will do.