IET: Energy Bill lacks efficiency say engineers

Engineers have welcomed the government's much-trailed Energy Bill, setting out the roadmap for the UK's switch to "a low-carbon economy".

Dr Simon Harrison, Chair of the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) Energy Policy Panel, said: “The announcement of Government plans to reduce electricity consumption is an important, and long overdue, step forward.

“It echoes calls from the engineering profession for the UK to get serious about the contribution that energy use reduction and energy efficiency can make to security of supply, environment, and costs.

“That it is announced on the same day as the Energy Bill underlines the importance of seeing energy demand and supply as a whole system, not picking off individual elements piecemeal.

“The IET believes that demand management measures should be fully integrated into energy policy going forward, and that to be effective this needs to include all sources of energy demand, not just electricity. For example, technology will enable consumers to shift demand to avoid using high cost or high carbon generation in exchange for cheaper tariffs, to store energy within the home or within a locality, and reduce demand through remote control of domestic heating.”

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Davey said: “The Energy Bill will attract investment to bring about a once in a generation transformation of our electricity market, moving from predominantly a fossil-fuel to a diverse low-carbon generation mix.”

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