April 30, 2008
Labour backbenchers are unhappy with the government’s green progress
There won’t be much coverage tomorrow of the energy debate on Thursday morning: alas.
But 33 Labour MPs rebelled this afternoon to back an amendment to the Energy Bill which would have encouraged homes and companies to install renewable energy systems such as solar panels or wind turbines.
They joined the Tories and Lib Dems to back an amendment by Alan Simpson, a Labour backbencher, calling for “feed-in tariffs” - which would set a fixed longterm energy price for people who installed green energy systems.
The government is still looking at the viability of the tariffs, a key part of the Tories’ energy policy.
But Mr Simpson, talking in the Commons today, made a vivid and depressing contrast between Germany (where these exist) and the UK.
We are far, far behind on almost every measure of sustainable energy.
.
The reason the UK is so far behind Germany on renewable energy is primarily for political reasons. The Green Party has been a force in German politics for 20 years, unlike their equivalent in the UK. Research conducted by Verdantix indicates that it will be at least 5 years before micro-generation can contribute electricity back to the grid. The UK grid is not engineered to manage bi-directional electricity flows at the local grid level. So the best consumers can do is generate for themselves.
Posted by: David Metcalfe | May 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm | Report this comment