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NORTHERN IRELAND GRAND COMMITTEE
Option made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 116 (Northern Ireland Grand Committee (sittings)),
Ordered,
That the Order of the House of 2nd December relating to sittings of the Northern Ireland Grand Committee shall have effect with the substitution in line 3 for the words '10th June' of the words '24th June'--[Mr. Clelland.]
Question agreed to.
That, at the sitting on Wednesday 26th May--
(1) the Speaker shall put the Questions necessary to dispose of proceedings on the Motions in the names of Margaret Beckett or Mrs. Marion Roe relating to--
(a) Line of Route not later than two hours after the Motion has been entered upon;
(b) Financial Assistance to Opposition Parties not later than one and a half hours after the Motion has been entered upon;
and the second Motion may be entered upon and proceeded with, though opposed, after Ten o'clock;
(2) the Questions referred to in paragraph (1) shall include the Questions on any Amendments selected by the Speaker which may then be moved; and
(3) the Motion in the name of Margaret Beckett relating to Select Committees (Quorum) may be entered upon and proceeded with, though opposed, after Ten o'clock.--[Mr. Clelland.]
10 pm
Fiona Mactaggart (Slough): I have the honour to present a petition signed by more than 3,000 supporters of Christian Action for Justice in Immigration Law. I think it is appropriate that I present this petition as the Member of Parliament for Slough. The petitioners are concerned about the divisions in Britain's nationality law that were created and entrenched by the 1968 commonwealth immigrants legislation. Although it was introduced by a Labour Government, the previous Members of Parliament for Eton and Slough, Joan Lestor and Lord Fenner Brockway, voted in this and in another place against that racially discriminatory legislation. The British Nationality Act 1981 continued many of the divisions, and it is still in force today. It introduced the situation that concerns the petitioners whereby children can be born in this country and not be British. The petition states:
- To the House of Commons
The petition of Christian Action for Justice in Immigrations Law, its sponsoring organisations, citizens and residents of the United Kingdom
declares that UK immigration legislation has been deliberately framed to be interpreted in a racially discriminatory manner--as evidenced by Cabinet papers of 1955 and 1961--and racial discrimination is now entrenched in the 1981 British Nationality Act;
further declares that the building of a truly multi-ethnic Britain demands new and inclusive nationality legislation which redefines national identity to reflect the nature of British society after post-war immigration.
The petitioners, therefore, request that the House of Commons urge the Secretary of State for the Home Department to:
1. establish a single British nationality with equal rights for all who are our responsibility in international law.
2. restore the principle of British citizenship for all those born in the United Kingdom.
The petitioners remain etc.
Photovoltaic Energy
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Clelland.]
10.2 pm
Dr. Alan Whitehead (Southampton, Test): As hon. Members will know, the United Kingdom has signed up to a 12 per cent. reduction in 1990 levels of CO 2 emissions and is likely to be one of the few countries that will achieve its initial commitments under the Kyoto protocol within the time scale that has been set. However, that target has largely been achieved by the environmental success of a policy--the so-called "dash for gas"--that was designed by the previous Government primarily for another policy purpose.
Gas power generation, although less profligate with CO 2 emissions then other forms of power generation, still relies on a fossil fuel and generates substantial amounts of CO 2 . As we approach the next stage of CO 2 savings--perhaps the UK's commitment of a 20 per cent. reduction in emissions--the curve of pain becomes steeper. There does not appear to be a second wave of magic solutions that will allow us to reach such commitments without pain.
One of the most promising avenues in that context is the aim of progressively replacing energy supply from fossil fuels with supply by renewable methods. The Government's commitment to supply 10 per cent. of energy by renewable means by 2010 is therefore laudable and is set out well in the recent consultative paper from the Department of Trade and Industry, "New and renewable energy--prospects for the 21st Century".
The paper singles out offshore and onshore wind power and biomass energy generation as the two most immediate technologies that will contribute to that target. In a clear and straightforward manner, the paper lays the ghost of the belief that renewable energy is the province of dreaming cranks. Scientific advances have made the contemplation of substantial energy generation by renewables a real and economically feasible prospect. Indeed, other countries have already almost achieved that. Brazil produces 80 per cent. of its energy from hydro-electricity or biomass conversion. Denmark is projected eventually to provide 36 per cent. of its total energy requirements from wind power.
It is therefore disappointing to read in the otherwise excellent consultative document that photovoltaics is regarded as a long-term prospect at best and does not feature strongly as a leading likely source of renewable energy. That is particularly disappointing because, of the leading sources of renewable energy, photovoltaics has, perhaps, recently enjoyed the most spectacular scientific development as a viable technology, but it is, possibly, why PV remains a marginal contributor, in the UK at least.
It is possible that received thought still believes that PV involves slinging huge, clunking solar panels on to the side of buildings, thereby offending passers-by and planning committees alike. It is possible also that the deeply ingrained British myth that it rains here most of the time, and when it does not, it is foggy, creates a belief that PV is fine in equatorial Africa but is not for the likes of us. On the contrary, modern PV installations work well with light, and do not need bright sunshine. Thin-film
technology means that typical PV installations need be no more obtrusive than the normal tiles on the roof of a house. Technological development is proceeding rapidly in, among other places, the sustainable energy research group at Southampton university in my constituency.
The failure to exploit PV represents not one, but two, lost opportunities for the UK. Not only are we denying ourselves the benefit of a viable and entirely renewable energy source, but we are starving a potentially economically important and world leading industry of the domestic market from which it could gain for its successful development. That market is expanding globally as quickly as that for mobile telephones or internet services.
The UK currently has 10 per cent. of the world's photovoltaics market, but almost all installations built or researched by UK companies are not in the UK. The photovoltaics industry in the UK employs about400 people only. The lack of a mass production market in the UK leads to continuing high costs for PV installations, which in turn damps down demand further.
Furthermore, as I shall illustrate, contrary to the policies of a number of other countries with comparable climates, our regulatory arrangements consciously discriminate against the successful spread of PV. Germany currently has embarked on the 100,000 roofs programme, which is designed to establish that number of individual PV installations by 2004. Japan aims to supply 4,600 MW from PV installations--an output equivalent to that of four fossil-fuelled power stations--by 2010. The USA plans for 1 million roofs to be powered by PV by 2010. All those schemes are supported by a form of underwriting in the first instance, through regulation of the purchase regime for energy or through installation grants.
Other countries do not regard PV as a long-term technology; they are investing in PV programmes now. Those programmes are inevitably stimulating manufacturers and supplies based in those countries. Already, one of the leading solar energy developers, BP Solar, has announced that, tragically, it is moving most of its activities to where the market is--the USA--following the company's takeover of Amoco. By contrast, Britain has just announced an experimental programme, which is welcome in context, to underwrite PV installations on 100 roofs, at a cost of £1 million.
I do not want to argue only on the basis that the British have a habit of being left behind in the commercial application of new technologies. I want to argue for the development of a self-sustaining market in the UK which may require some support at the start but which, with proper assistance and regulation, could, in a relatively short time, supply substantial elements of UK domestic and commercial power needs at competitive prices.
The reason why such a market is eminently feasible in the UK lies in our high degree of urbanisation. Other forms of renewable energy require fast-flowing streams, windy headlands or set-aside land on which to grow willow. One cannot develop those technologies in urban areas, but 80 per cent. of us live in towns and cities, under that great unexploited resource of the modern age: the urban roof. The average south-facing roof can sustain PV tiles that can generate upwards of 2,000 units of electricity per annum, when the consumption of the average household runs only to about 2,500 units a year.
In other words, one's own roof, doing nothing but staying where it is, can replace 80 per cent. of one's electricity requirement year in, year out. To put it another way, each square metre of installed PV on a roof saves more than 1 tonne of carbon emissions from fossil fuel energy over its projected lifetime of 20 years.
There are severe impediments. I have already mentioned the cost, which largely derives from the lack of the economies that large scale production brings. At present, to install solar tiles producing 2,000 units a year would cost about £8,000. I believe in putting my money where my mouth is. I am actively investigating the feasibility of installing PV tiles on the south-facing roof of my own home, but the installation cost currently means that, despite my inflated salary as a Member of Parliament, I must act from political commitment to do that now, rather than from the reasonable economic self-interest to which an economically viable industry should work.
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