Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
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Government failure to adopt new green technologies
Lewes MP Norman Baker has called upon the Government to commit itself to a major investment in renewable heat technology. Norman has now leant his support to a campaign by Friends of the Earth, to encourage the take-up of such technology, by tabling a motion in the House of Commons calling for a major step-change in the government’s current investment in renewable heat sources.
Currently, energy used for heat is responsible for a third of the UK’s carbon emissions, yet renewable heat technologies, which could not only make a major contribution to reducing the UK’s contribution towards global warming but also help to tackle fuel poverty, improve security of supply and open new markets for hard-up farmers, have so far been overlooked.
Speaking about his motion, Norman said:
“The Government has set itself a challenging target for reducing the UK’s carbon dioxide emissions and its contribution towards global warming, yet only this week we were told that their progress is now so off-track that they openly admit that they are unlikely to reach it in time.
“What is particularly galling about this is the government’s continued failure to exploit possible solutions by actually going ahead and investing sufficiently in new forms of technology which can provide them with a way out. They should be encouraging the uptake of clean and renewable energy sources such as renewable heat.
“We need to look at using the generation of heat through technologies such as biomass, including biogas, solar heating and ground source heat pumps. These could not only make a vital contribution towards cutting emissions but could also provide new hope to the many people, particularly in remote areas, who suffer from fuel poverty, increase security of supply in an increasingly unpredictable world, and offer essential new markets for our struggling farmers.”
A copy of the motion that Norman has tabled is attached
EDM 176 RENEWABLE HEAT OBLIGATION
That this House believes that the Government's targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions require a step-change in the take-up of renewable energy; notes that while Government policies promote renewable electricity generation, little is done to promote the renewable generation of heat through technologies such as biomass, including biogas, solar heating and ground source heat pumps; further notes that energy used for heat is responsible for a third of our carbon emissions, that renewable heat technologies could cut these emissions, help tackle fuel poverty in remote areas of the country, increase fuel security, and provide new markets for the farming and forestry industry; and calls on the Government to extend the renewables obligation to support renewable heat, as recommended by the Royal Commission on Environment Pollution.
Norman’s Early Day Motion has currently gained the signatures of 56 of his fellow MPs, from across the three major political parties