§ 1. Dr. Mawhinneyasked the Secretary of State for Energy what preliminary results he has received from the Peterborough Development Corporation's experiment on solar heating of private residences.
§ The Under-Secretary of State for Energy (Mr. David Hunt)Results from these experiments have been made available to the Polytechnic of Central London, which is using them in work for my Department on computer simulation models relating to buildings.
§ Dr. MawhinneyIs my hon. Friend not being unduly coy? Will he confirm that energy savings are about 20 to 30 per cent.? If so, when does the Department intend to make wider use of the scheme in the building of private houses?
§ Mr. HuntThe results of the research and development that has been supported by the Department on passive solar design show that certain measures are economically viable now, whereas active solar space heating measures are not economic in the United Kingdom. However, I agree with my hon. Friend that preliminary results are encouraging. Like him, I shall follow with great interest the analysis that is now being carried out.