Tag Archives: energy

Opinion: Flaws in Policy Exchange’s report

By Reg Platt | Published 23rd January 2012 - 11:54 am

Another day, another headline on the cost of green policies. This time thanks to a new report from Policy Exchange as part of their ‘Greener, Cheaper’ workstream. With customers feeling the pinch from high energy bills, Chris Huhne continues to have his work cut out to defend green policy spending. Problems with Policy Exchange’s analysis, including their uncritical support of gas and aversion to the promotion of growth by Government, must be brought to the fore.

The main argument of Policy Exchange’s report is that there are additional costs to consumers from renewable policies beyond those directly on the …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 6 Comments

Opinion: Two suggestions to shorten the dole queues

By Lucy Care | Published 7th December 2011 - 3:26 pm

A couple of nights ago I was chatting to someone who had just lost her job.

Like so many other people she worked as a professional in the public sector. Her department was being reorganised and jobs redefined. Professional posts were being regraded downwards, and people were being invited to apply for posts below their qualification and experience.

Understandably, she felt angry; the jobs still needed doing, her skills would become out of date unless she got a new job fairly soon and their household income would suffer a severe cut. She was also angry that so many of the current round of job losses are hitting …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , | 21 Comments

Pugh: we must we must be able to guarantee safety before we start fracking

By The Voice | Published 8th November 2011 - 8:43 am

The Press Association reports:

If Britain is to benefit from a controversial drilling technique to extract gas from the ground “we must be able to guarantee safety at every stage”, a Liberal Democrat MP has said. Dr John Pugh (Southport) said without appropriate and effective monitoring of the process, public support would not be achieved.

Fracking, which involves hydraulic fracturing of shale rock using high pressure liquid, led to the tremors which hit Lancashire earlier this year. Environmental campaigners and local residents have called for an immediate halt to the exploration work, which could lead to vast untapped gas reserves. Energy firm

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Parliament | Also tagged , | 3 Comments

Opinion: Feed-in tariffs and the Lib Dem fight to ensure the Coalition really is ‘the greenest government ever’

By Lucy Care | Published 7th November 2011 - 11:40 am

Feed-in tariffs, a policy mechanism designed to accelerate investment in renewable energy technologies, have been used successfully in many countries to increase the amount of electricity being generated from renewable sources.

The UK has actually been fairly slow off the mark on this. Our aim to be ‘the greenest government ever’ included support for feed-in tariffs.

Indeed, in the Coalition Agreement the preamble to the section on Energy and Climate Change said: ‘We need to use a wide range of levers to cut carbon emissions, decarbonise the economy and support the creation of new green jobs and technologies.’ It went on to say ‘We will establish a full system of feed-in tariffs in electricity,’ and ‘We will encourage community-owned renewable energy schemes where local people benefit from the power produced.’

So what is happening to the system of feed-in tariffs? And how are the changes going to encourage community-owned renewable energy systems?

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 14 Comments

The Independent View: Final Demand – it’s time to end the power of the Big Six

By Andy Atkins | Published 17th October 2011 - 1:50 pm

News last week that the Big Six energy firms are raking in bumper profits while the nation struggles with soaring fuel bills was just the latest electric shock to hit cash-strapped families.

Ofgem’s revelation that energy firm profit margins have risen to £125 per customer per year, from £15 in June, will crank up pressure on the Government to act – and rightly so.

But if Ministers really want to get to grips with soaring fuel bills we must also tackle the root cause – our nation’s reliance on increasingly expensive gas, coal and oil and the failure of the Big Six

…

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds, The Independent View | Also tagged , | 3 Comments

Huhne pledges to do ‘the right thing’ as he commits to nuclear power

By Stephen Tall | Published 15th October 2011 - 1:30 pm

This week saw Lib Dem energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne make a major speech to the Royal Society on the future of nuclear power, with the Coalition committed to a series of new reactors adjacent to existing sites.

The Coalition’s policy has long been trailed — a year ago, Chris put forward his views here on LibDemVoice.org, ‘Myth-busting: what the Coalition’s plans for nuclear energy really mean’. Here Chris acknowledged his shift from opposition to nuclear power to support conditional on no public subsidy — a shift which has majority support from Lib Dem members, at …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , | 15 Comments

Once again, Osborne is the obstacle to green action

By Mark Pack | Published 10th October 2011 - 11:17 pm

Today’s Times reports how:

The Chancellor has infuriated No. 10 and Cabinet colleagues by refusing to endorse a key component in the policy to boost renewable energy.

In an extraordinary move last week George Osborne was rebuked by David Cameron’s aides for failing to come on board for a key green policy.

At a meeting on Monday the prime minister’s most senior official, Jeremy Heywood, gave a dressing down to an Osborne adviser over the Chancellor’s failure to rubber stamp the new price that power companies will pay for renewable energy such as solar, wave and wind power.

Osborne has form on this, for …

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 4 Comments

Liberal Democrats in Birmingham take up Chris Huhne’s energy challenge

By The Voice | Published 5th October 2011 - 9:50 am

From the Birmingham Mail:

BIRMINGHAM City Council is hoping to slash gas and electric bills for householders and businesses by setting up its own energy supply business.

The local authority wants to use its clout as a wholesale energy buyer and solar power generator to offer gas and electric to the city’s 440,000 homes and 50,000 businesses at a cheaper rate…

The council wants to capitalise on a freeing up of the energy market announced by energy secretary Chris Huhne at last week’s Liberal Democrat Conference in Birmingham…

The city council’s deputy leader Paul Tilsley is taking up the initiative with a scheme to

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | Leave a comment

LDVideo at Conference | A Chris Huhne double-bill

By Stephen Tall | Published 21st September 2011 - 7:55 am

At Birmingham and so missing out on how the Lib Dem conference is being reported? Not at Birmingham and so missing out on seeing Lib Dem MPs and government ministers up close and personal? We hope these videos will help re-connect you…

It was Lib Dem energy secretary Chris Huhne’s day in the limelight yesterday, with his speech to the party’s Birmingham conference generating acres of coverage. Here’s how the BBC reported it.

Chris Huhne on fuel poverty and energy prices


(Available on the BBC website here.)

Huhne inspects energy efficient house

Continue reading »
Posted in YouTube | Also tagged | Leave a comment

Opinion: How the market will decide our energy future

By Simon Oliver | Published 12th August 2011 - 9:49 am

Recently articles from both the TUC and CBI have bemoaned the burden of increasing energy costs on energy intensive businesses. Both organisations make the rather obvious error in thinking that a carbon price will inevitably drive the cost of energy upwards. In fact, the opposite is true. The stronger the price signal, the faster the market works to balance supply with demand.

The supply of fossil fuels is finite. Conventional oil has already peaked its supply (as admitted by the chief economist of the IEA) and tar sands and fracking are far too damaging to the environment to continue as …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , , | 25 Comments

Lib Dem MPs set to rebel over ‘back-door’ nuclear power subsidy

By Stephen Tall | Published 2nd July 2011 - 4:15 pm

‘Liberal Democrats have long opposed any new nuclear construction. Conservatives, by contrast, are committed to allowing the replacement of existing nuclear power stations provided that they are subject to the normal planning process for major projects (under a new National Planning Statement), and also provided that they receive no public subsidy.’

So declares the Coalition Agreement. However, as the Guardian reports, the finance bill due to be debated this coming week introduces a form of subsidy, and it’s attracted opposition among the party:

A large group of Lib Dems are concerned about clause 78 of the bill, which MPs will consider

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 26 Comments

LibLink: Chris Huhne – The biggest energy market shake-up in 25 years

By NewsHound | Published 16th December 2010 - 3:25 pm

Over at the Telegraph, Lib Dem secretary of state for energy and climate change Chris Huhne argues that the UK needs to unlock private investment in its energy market on an unprecedented scale, and ensure the low-carbon revolution at the lowest cost to consumers. Here’s an excerpt:

… on Thursday the Coalition begins a consultation on a reform that would reshape this market more fundamentally than at any time since the 1980s, when the Lawson reforms were the pioneer of Europe’s deregulation. Since then, we have acquired an overlay of instruments – notably the renewables obligation – that has provided a

…

Continue reading »
Posted in LibLink | Also tagged | 9 Comments

Chris Huhne announces ‘The Green Deal: Putting our ideas into practice’

By The Voice | Published 5th November 2010 - 7:35 pm

Chris Huhne, Lib Dem secretary of state for energy and climate change, earlier this week emailed party members with the following message, illustrating how the party is putting green policies at the heart of the Coaltion:

Today I am announcing details of the Green Deal, a new and radical way of making energy efficiency improvements available to all, whether people own or rent their properties. Through the Green Deal everyone will have a chance to save energy, cut their bills and tackle climate change, just as we promised in our manifesto.

Initially, over the next two years, we will almost double

…

Continue reading »
Posted in News | Also tagged , , | 2 Comments

Decision time on energy for the Coalition

By Ian Manders | Published 7th September 2010 - 3:57 pm

Energy is precious – surely? The UK faces a decline in gas and oil output from the North Sea and for the first time in decades is importing the bulk of its fossil fuels. Despite long-term subsidy, renewable energy only satisfies a tiny part of the energy demands of the UK.

So, you would think we would be using our precious energy stocks efficiently, would you not? Everyone knows that our buildings are draughty and expensive to heat – but did you know how inefficient our electricity supply system is? Do you know how much energy is thrown away before it …

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 10 Comments

LDV survey: 68% of Lib Dem members back nuclear as party of UK’s energy mix

By Stephen Tall | Published 28th August 2010 - 8:45 am

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum to discover what Lib Dem members think of a variety of key issues, and what you make of the Lib Dems’ and Government’s performance to date. Almost 600 party members have responded, and we’ll be publishing the full results of our survey in the next few days.

First up we asked about Chris Huhne’s announcement that he is now backing nuclear power in order to ensure the stability of Britain’s energy supplies.

Do you believe Chris Huhne is right to say that nuclear power, alongside oil and gas and renewable sources, …

Continue reading »
Posted in LDV Members poll | Also tagged , | 16 Comments