Energy Conservation (Hansard, 24 February 1993)

§ Mr. Cynog Dafis (Ceredigion and Pembroke, North)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require all district and borough councils in the United Kingdom to draw up energy conservation plans for their areas; to require that these plans assess the works needed on residential accommodation in order to achieve energy savings of up to thirty per cent.; to require also that these plans assess the number of jobs that such a programme would create, the savings in fuel bills that different types of households might expect and the decrease in emissions of certain gases that would result; to establish a consultation process in the drawing up of these plans; to set up Regional Energy Boards to monitor and advise on the implementation of the plans; to require the Secretary of State to set a date by which all such plans must be sent to him, to draw up and publish a timetable or timetables for the implementation of the plans and to make funds available for the implementation of the plans; to give the Secretary of State power to impose a levy on fuel prices in order to raise the money; to give the Secretary of State a power to direct electricity and gas suppliers to supply certain information to councils to enable them to prioritise certain premises for energy conservation works; and for related purposes. Thank you, Madam Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to introduce my Energy Conservation Bill.

I open my remarks by referring to the crucial need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The need for such reduction to combat the desperately serious problem of climate change is recognised in several of the Government's publications. The Department of the Environment document "Climate Change", published in December, shows that that Department at least takes the problem seriously. The Government are a signatory to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development climate change convention, with its target—it has to be said, a seriously inadequate one—of reducing emissions to the 1990 level by the end of the century.

The achievement of adequate reductions must entail a drastically reduced dependence on electricity generation from fossil fuels and a shift towards renewables, as the report of the renewable energy advisory group to the Department of Trade and Industry so convincingly argues. It must entail a rethinking of our attitudes to transportation, especially road transport. Increasing demand for fuel for road transport is the main reason for the projected increase in carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2000.

However, an essential and painless starting point must be a programme for enhanced energy efficiency, including in homes. It is worth recalling that 26 per cent. of carbon dioxide, 29 per cent. of sulphur dioxide and 14 per cent. of oxide of nitrogen emissions are produced as a result of activity in the domestic sector.

Several Government initiatives, including the home energy efficiency scheme and the greenhouse programme, have been useful moves in the right direction. We now require a far more comprehensive and on-going process. That is what the activation of my Bill's provisions would bring about. The Bill proposes that district and borough councils, acting as energy conservation authorities and in partnership with regional energy boards, would draw up and implement plans for improving energy efficiency in residential properties in their areas by an average of up to 30 per cent.

887 The energy conservation authorities would be charged with investigating the means by which energy savings of 10, 20 or 30 per cent. might be achieved. They would be required to assess the cost of the measures, the average savings in fuel bills in various types of residence, and the extent of the resulting reductions of CO₂, SO₂ and NO_x, as well as the number of jobs created in the implementation of the plan. Councils would be reimbursed by central Government for drawing up the plans and making arrangements for their implementation. The improvements would be funded by a small levy on gas and electricity bills.

The Government's "Helping the Earth Begins at Home" campaign is a useful way of raising public awareness of the threat of global warming. It concentrates in particular on how each of us has responsibility to minimise damage to the environment. One of society's tasks is to create what could be termed a culture of sustainability, radically different from the throwaway culture in which we have all been encouraged, and are still encouraged, to participate.

The extensive consultation process provided for in my Bill and the drawing up and implementation of the plan would help to raise public awareness and create the new culture of sustainability. I have already referred to the contribution that such a programme would make to reducing emissions of those gases which are the main cause of the greenhouse effect. Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide also cause acid rain and significant damage to health. Health gains, important in themselves, would also provide savings for health authorities. Those gains would derive not only from reduced pollution, but from reducing or even eliminating cold and damp in many homes, especially those where incomes are low.

Consumers currently waste £1 billion annually on unnecessarily high fuel bills, yet 2.5 million households are still cold and damp. Hypothermia is a disgracefully and unnecessarily common phenomenon in our society. Health gains and the resultant financial savings are difficult to quantify. However, Newark and Sherwood district council, which has conducted a programme of improving energy conservation works on 7,127 buildings, estimates that a 20-year programme of reducing damp and condensation alone would result in savings to the local health services of about £4.4 million.

The levy on the price of fuel envisaged in the Bill would amount to far less than the money saved by consumers as a result of conservation measures. Families would thus have additional spending power, which would generate economic activity and thus create jobs. Far more jobs would be created by employing people to carry out improvements to homes. A study conducted for the Association for the Conservation of Energy, which I am delighted to say gives its backing to the Bill, shows that a 10-year programme with a gross investment of £15.5 billion would generate 500,000 job-years.

That means either 500,000 jobs lasting one year or 50,000 jobs lasting 10 years. That job creation would reduce costs in unemployment benefits and in social security payments, which would in turn create even more jobs. The Bill would thus set in motion a virtuous cycle and 888 would help the nations of Britain to emerge from the recession in—I emphasise these words—an environmentally sustainable way.

There would also be savings in maintenance costs. Newark and Sherwood district council has assessed the benefits of energy conservation work on 7,127 dwellings to it as landlord at £2.2 million. The Energy Efficiency Office found from a recent study of five local authorities and one housing association that landlords could save £100 to £500 per dwelling per year when all management and maintenance costs were taken into account.

We have too often tended to define an improvement in the quality of our lives solely in terms of increasing our consumption of natural resources. The need for environmental sustainability requires that we increasingly search for such improvements either without increasing our consumption of natural resources or, in the case of wealthier countries and the wealthier sectors of society, by decreasing our consumption. That can be achieved only by the application of what the Business Council for Sustainable Development no less describes as eco-efficency.

The Bill provides one example in the crucial area of energy of eco-efficiency at work. An initial capital investment would lead to the reduced consumption of resources on a long-term basis which would provide an enhanced quality of life for all, especially for the less privileged, in the form of greater comfort, better living conditions and better health. It would also create useful employment and reduce the damaging impact of human activity on the fragile environment that sustains us.