The UK is undergoing an energy transformation. The way in which the general public, businesses and industry manage their consumption is being scrutinised more than ever. With the emergence of the government's Green Deal and the push for individuals to take more responsibility, the Coalition's aim of creating an energy-efficient Britain could soon become a reality. The Green Deal is a 25 year strategy that will set out incentives for homeowners to reduce energy consumption by encouraging energy saving.
Gaining control of individual consumption is one of the most important steps in creating a low carbon society, as Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust, discusses.
"Recent events around the world illustrate how much costs are going to rise and how difficult it is going to be to secure supplies of energy in the future," he tells Editor Amy Caddick. "Individuals taking control of their own consumption, therefore, is really important.""Firstly, if people are actively managing their energy consumption as individuals, when you aggregate that it has a really positive impact on energy supplies," says Sellwood. "This means you don't actually have to produce as much in the first place. Secondly, if there is a breakdown of supply due to a fault or natural disaster, then you're in a position to be able to export your own electricity. Clearly that puts individuals in a much better place than if they are entirely reliant on a centralised delivery system."
Energy security is also an area that has been the topic of much debate, particularly surrounding oil. Conflicts in the Middle East have led to fears over supply, and so the need to find other energy sources such as through renewables has become a challenge for many nations, not just the UK.
These recent events have simply highlighted that supply can be maintained and protected if individuals take more responsibility for their own consumption.
"There's no question that householders can do more," states Sellwood. "I think we're all agreed that even the most advanced households have still got a lot they can do, not only in terms of implementing energy efficiency, but also heat technology or renewable energy such as solar panels or ground source heat pumps.
"In terms of what the government can do to help, firstly I think they'd be wise – and I'm sure some parts of the government are starting to look at overseas experiences – to look, for instance, at how Germany now has the world's most successful ground and air source heat pump industry, or to Spain and what they've done with photovoltaics. We can use these examples to see what could be done here in the UK."
Incentives for change
The Green Deal is a good stepping stone in aiding individuals to take control of their own energy supply. Other schemes like the Renewable Heat Incentive, aimed at assisting with the financial burdens of installing such green technologies, certainly offer households motivation to make the change to renewables.
"The government are delivering various incentives for feed-in tariffs for renewable energy and the renewable heat incentives, which is going to come in next year for households," Sellwood describes. "Whilst there's a lot that individual householders can do, there's obviously a need for the government to take a lead in terms of making available sufficient financial and non-financial incentives when it's needed, so that individual householders
feel it's worthwhile."
Decreasing consumption in homes doesn't always need to be a vast change, however. There are small measures that can be implemented to make a big difference. Energy saving light bulbs are one such device and, indeed, many homes already use these, but there are many others.
"It is really important to encourage people to install energy saving devices and renewable technologies," says Sellwood. "These activities should be seen as normal behaviour, not special behaviour. There aren't many devices you can install in the home where you can guarantee that it will save you money year-in year-out, so in the way that we wouldn't think it at all odd to install a TV, a stereo system or a dishwasher, we shouldn't really see it as anything other than normal to be implementing energy saving measures. The big advantage is, unlike your TV and your dishwasher, it saves you money."
Teaching the technology
Education, however, is a problem. Many householders are not aware of the profound difference their actions can make to national consumption. Teaching individuals about this and how they can save energy and reduce their energy bills needs to be a focus over the next few years.
"We often find that even in cases where energy-efficient technology is being installed in homes, there is not enough education to teach householders how to get the best out of those systems. Education is therefore imperative," urges Sellwood. "In the future we'll have smart meters installed directly into people's homes, allowing individuals to take responsibility visibly for their own energy consumption. Educating individual citizens and householders to use this new smart technology is absolutely essential.
"My fear is that we will install all this very smart technology and the householder will not benefit nor
will we reduce carbon emissions because it's not being used efficiently."
Renewable energy sources on a national level seem perfectly achievable and many people support them, but on a personal level it can seem somewhat overwhelming and costly. The Coalition's incentives certainly make it easier for householders to undertake renewable sources in their homes. The question remains whether these incentives work and if individuals are actually implementing their own renewable energy sources in the homes.
"Until recently the cost of energy has been such a small proportion of most domestic household budgets that it's never really been an issue," explains Sellwood. "However, the average household energy bill is now over £1,300 a year, which in many cases is higher than their council tax bill. People are realising that they've actually got to take action in order to get those bills down."
"Since the government launched its feed-in tariffs, the incentive for domestic householders for implementing renewables, 20,000 individual households installed technologies between April and December 2010. That was a direct result of the incentive. Based on these figures, I think it would be safe to assume that the renewable energy sector for householders will continue to grow."
While individuals certainly have a huge role to play in this, Sellwood recognises that the public needs to be guided in implementing these energy saving measures.
"There must be clear, consistent messaging about why it's important to implement energy saving and renewable technology in the home," Sellwood concludes. "There must also be plans for long-term incentives. Short-term incentives that run for a year or two before the money runs out are not effective. There has got to be a commitment, and I think we'll see that with the Green Deal – but people need to be confident they are getting what it says on the tin."
By taking control, individual households can effectively become – with the help of renewables – independent from the grid, explains Sellwood. "This is equally important because there's also an opportunity with energy efficiency and with renewables for individual householders to export back to the grid. So there's the chance not only to save money at one end but also to make money at the other."
The over-reliance on energy and the inability of individuals to control consumption can have a monumental effect on the ability of countries to manage their supply. Taking the recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan as an example, it is clear to see how efficient handling of energy can improve circumstances. After the damage to the Fukushima nuclear power plant, there were worries that energy supply would be interrupted in other areas of the country. However, due to individuals managing their own consumption in the days following the event, power was not disrupted.
Source http://www.publicservice.co.uk/
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