MARKET
Labour’s Green Energy Plan
Could the new Government’s “rooftop revolution” cut energy bills and even tackle the climate crisis? Ginetta Vedrickas reports partnership with the private sector for the good of the country. Great British Energy will create thousands of good jobs, with good wages, across the country.” NEW SOLAR STANDARDS FOR NEW BUILD HOMES Alongside plans for a UK-owned energy company, ministers are also working with the building industry to make it easier to buy new homes with panels installed or install them on existing ones. Ministers are looking at bringing in solar-related standards for new-build properties from next year. At present, while formal planning permission is not required, there are restrictions on where and how high up on buildings they can be placed. There are also restrictions in conservation areas and on listed buildings. These may also be re-examined. BUYERS DEMAND ENERGY- EFFICIENT HOMES As the UK welcomes a new Government and fresh housing policies, demand for energy-efficient new homes is on the rise, according to new data from Knight Frank. Its recent buyer sentiment survey reveals a shift in housing preferences, with one- fifth of respondents expressing an interest in purchasing a new home.This marks an increase from the 13% recorded in the three preceding years. Energy efficiency has become a crucial factor for homebuyers, with 60% citing it as their primary reason for choosing a new build.This trend is driven by the desire to reduce winter heating costs and mitigate the effects of increasingly frequent summer heatwaves. Knight Frank is seeing more UK developers installing energy efficiency measures –
generators supply households in the south with electricity and, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, gas costs have risen substantially. The new Labour Government believes that the new solar and wind farms will provide clean energy for around 92,000 homes over the next 60 years as well as create jobs.
The new Labour Government recently unveiled plans that will see millions more homes fitted with solar panels with the aim of lowering the cost of domestic energy bills as well as tackling the climate crisis. The former Conservative Government had previously blocked plans to build three new large solar farms but – as one of the first announcements he made – Labour’s incoming Energy Secretary, Ed Miliband, overturned the ban making it highly likely that they will now go ahead.These solar farms, in Lincolnshire and on the Suffolk Cambridgeshire borders, will deliver around two-thirds of the solar energy installed on rooftops and on the ground compared to what was delivered last year. Miliband wants to triple the UK’s amount of solar power by 2030 as well as double the amount of onshore wind farms and quadruple offshore wind, “I want to unleash a UK solar rooftop revolution.We will encourage builders and homeowners in whatever way we can to deliver this win-win technology to millions of addresses in the UK so people can provide their own electricity, cut their bills and at the same time help fight climate change.”
GREAT BRITISH ENERGY
Ed Miliband’s Department for Energy Security & Net Zero also issued a statement setting out plans for a new publicly owned energy company as part of its Great British Energy Bill which it will bring to Parliament. Miliband warns that investing in clean energy quickly and at scale is vital, “In an unstable world, the only way to guarantee our energy security and protect billpayers permanently is to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards homegrown clean energy.” With the aim of making the UK a “clean energy superpower by 2030” he intends creating a publicly owned company headquartered in Scotland which will invest in clean, homegrown energy. “Great British Energy stems from a simple idea: that the British people should have a right to own and benefit from our natural resources. These resources belong to all of us and should be harnessed for the common good.” Miliband pointed out that foreign governments already own some of the UK’s energy companies, but he intends for British people to own and build things again as he feels that, while other countries have grasped the opportunities of investing in clean energy, Britain has been left behind. He wants the UK to have less exposure to volatile gas prices as Great British Energy will own, manage and operate clean power projects. “It will be a company that will generate energy in its own right, working in
WIND VERSUS SOLAR POWER
Wind is a more efficient power source than solar. Compared to solar panels, wind turbines release less CO2 to the atmosphere, consume less energy, and produce more energy overall. One wind turbine may generate the same amount of electricity as seven football fields of solar panels. Energy experts have welcomed Miliband’s plans for more solar and more wind farms which they think will improve the UK’s supply of renewable energy. At the moment most of it is concentrated in the north of the UK but it has to be transmitted down south where there is more demand. Currently, gas
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