§ Mr. Jim Cunningham:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what plans the Department has to encourage people to increase the installation of household energy-saving appliances. [131394]
§ Mr. Bradshaw:The Energy White Paper details the steps being taken to encourage greater energy efficiency in the UK, and sets out an ambitious strategy for energy efficiency up to 2010 and beyond. Energy efficiency is expected to deliver about half the carbon savings needed to meet our goals for 2020. This will mean roughly doubling the rate of energy efficiency improvement of recent decades.
Key measures proposed in the White Paper include extension of the Energy Efficiency Commitment beyond 2005 at possibly twice its current level of activity; revisions to the Building Regulations; faster improvements in the 132W standards of new household appliances; and consultation on economic instruments to improve household energy efficiency.
Tighter building regulations will have an impact on new homes, alterations to existing stock and all replacement windows and boilers. We have already begun work on the next major revision of the building regulations, which we will aim to bring into effect in 2005. Tighter building regulations will also encourage developers to use low carbon solutions such as solar water heating and photovoltaics.
As announced in Budget 2003, following the initial consultation last year the Government are consulting in more detail on specific economic instruments to encourage greater energy efficiency by households, including the use of measures to change the price differential between efficient and inefficient products.
Micro-CHP could also in due course provide a useful contribution towards improving household energy efficiency. An estimated 250–500MW could be generated from micro-CHP by 2010, although the Government do not have a specific target for the amount of electricity to be generated by micro-CHP technology.
The Government intend to publish an Energy Efficiency Implementation Plan within a year of the White Paper's publication, which will provide further detail on all of these policies.
§ Mr. Jim Cunningham:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what assessment she has made of the cost of energy wasted by UK households each year; [131395]
(2) what estimate has been made of the average potential financial saving to UK households through the implementation of energy-saving home improvements. [131396]
§ Mr. Bradshaw:The Government estimates the potential for cost-effective improvements in energy use in homes at almost £3 billion a year or around 20 per cent. of current total expenditure. This is almost £120 per household. These figures are based on the installation of cost-effective insulation and the replacement, at the end of their useful lives, of boilers, lights and domestic appliances by the most efficient equivalent models available. Precise estimates vary, since new products reach the market and existing measures are installed but there is broad agreement on the 20 per cent. estimate.
§ Mr. Wiggin:To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much energy was produced per person in 2002; and what estimate she has made of production levels in EU countries. [131077]
§ Mr. Timms:I have been asked to reply.
Energy production figures are shown in the following table. This information is for 2001, as this is the most recent date for which data for all the member states of the EU are available.
133W
Country Total Energy Production
(Millions of
tonnes of oil
equivalent)
Population (Thousands)
Energy Production
per capita
(Tonnes of oil
equivalent)
Denmark 27.17 5,349 5.08 UK 262.19 59,862 4.38 Sweden 34.38 8,883 3.87 Netherlands 60.44 15.987 3.78 Finland 15.16 5,181 2.93 France 133.19 59,038 2.26 Germany 133.74 82,260 1,63 Belgium 13.08 10,263 1.27 Austria 9.72 8,121 120 Greece 9.97 10,554 0.94 Spain 33.02 40,122 0.82 Italy 26.26 57,844 0.45 Ireland 1.73 3,826 0.45 Portugal 3.40 10,263 0.33 Luxembourg 0.06 440 0.14 Total 763.50 377,993 2.02 Source:
Figures for total energy production are from the International Energy Agency publication "Energy Balances of QECD Countries, 2000–2001" and relate to 2001. Population figures are from Eurostat and relate to 2001 (except Greece—2000).