Carbon Emissions
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the proportion of global man-made emissions which are attributable to the UK. [59198]
Gregory Barker: The Department recognises the importance of understanding greenhouse gas emissions associated with both production and consumption of goods and services. For the purposes of international climate change negotiations, the only practical basis for reducing greenhouse gas emissions globally is through multi-lateral agreements based on commitments made and actions taken by national governments. This approach underpins the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Department, therefore, publishes annual statistics on greenhouse gas emissions as required under international treaties and obligations. However, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published data on greenhouse gas emissions associated with the consumption of goods and services and these can be found at:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/statistics/environment/green-economy/scptb01-ems/
Climate Change: EU Action
Barry Gardiner: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what representations he has made to the European Commission on proposals to designate 5 per cent. of the EU budget to measures to address climate change. [58182]
Gregory Barker: While the Government's overriding priority is to reduce the size of the EU budget to reflect austerity measures being undertaken across the EU, we support a simultaneous and significant reprioritisation within the next financial perspective of the EU budget to support the EU's long-term priorities, including energy and climate change.
No representations have been made on this specific proposal and, indeed, the Government believe that spending on climate change, both in annual EU budgets and in the next financial perspective should be mainstreamed within existing budget headings, because on balance, such mainstreaming across all relevant headings is more effective and offers greater value for money than a dedicated fund.
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Energy: Housing
Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what definition of affordable warmth his Department uses. [58197]
Gregory Barker: Clauses 66 and 67 of the Energy Bill include provisions to set energy suppliers a 'home heating-cost reduction obligation' within the Energy Company Obligation. This is defined within the clauses as
‘a target for the promotion of measures for reducing the cost to individuals of heating their homes'
and can be summarised as an 'affordable warmth' obligation. It is envisaged that support under this obligation would be targeted at those lower income and vulnerable households who are identified as needing support.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he has considered the merits of asking the Committee on Climate Change to examine outsourced emissions and consumption-based accounting of greenhouse gas emissions. [58460]
Gregory Barker: The work programme for the Committee on Climate Change is planned and managed through an annual business planning process agreed between the Government, devolved Administrations and the Committee on Climate Change. The Government have no immediate plans to ask the CCC to undertake work on outsourced emissions.
We do, however, recognise the importance of the impact on emissions of the whole life cycle of the products we consume, and the increasingly global nature of supply chains means that there is a more and more complex picture of where in the life history of a product the emissions actually arise. The Government's Green Economy Programme is working to identify and help reduce the lifecycle carbon and other environmental impacts that are associated with UK consumption, wherever in the world those impacts occur.
Nuclear Power: Manpower
Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of nuclear engineers required to deliver the UK's nuclear power station replacement programme. [57283]
Charles Hendry: Last year the Government commissioned Cogent, the Sector Skills Council for Nuclear, to produce a report looking at the impact of industry's plans to develop new build nuclear on the nuclear workforce. This report, “Next Generation: Skills for New Build Nuclear”, was published in March 2010.
This published report does not provide a specific estimate for nuclear engineers from the total workforce required, under an indicative scenario of 16GW of nuclear new build, but does identify the requirements for the different engineering disciplines where there are perceived gaps and shortages and makes recommendations to address possible shortfalls. Progress on these
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recommendations is monitored by the Nuclear Energy Skills Alliance, a grouping of skills bodies that operate in the nuclear sector and Government.
The estimated requirements per reactor unit where there are perceived gaps and shortages include 140 design engineers at peak during the design and planning stage, 50 design engineers along with 40 manufacturing engineers and 20 non-destructive testing engineers at peak for equipment manufacture and 30 design engineers at peak during commissioning, operation and maintenance. A further report in this Labour Market research series is planned for publication by the end of this year which will update the previous information and provide further granularity.
Note:
A nuclear engineer is an engineer within the wide range of engineering disciplines, e.g. electrical, mechanical, civil, who in the context of this response works within the design, manufacturing and construction sectors of the nuclear industry.
Voltage Optimisation
Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of voltage optimisation technology in reducing energy use; and if he will make a statement. [58272]
Gregory Barker: Voltage optimisation can deliver significant energy savings when properly matched to the appropriate types of load, for example commercial office environments where voltage optimisation can be combined with spike protection and phase-balancing and/or where the local grid voltage is high. It is generally less suited to industrial processes.
Two of the projects under Ofgem's Low Carbon Networks Fund are using new voltage control technology which will enable better network voltage control, system harmonics and allow increased network utilisation.
Wind Power
Mr Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the (a) number and (b) total generating capacity of wind turbines is in each parliamentary constituency that (i) have been installed and (ii) are in receipt of planning permission. [57853]
Charles Hendry: The following annex provides data on a regional basis for onshore wind turbines in the UK that have been installed or are in receipt of planning permission, and their total generating capacity(1).
Data are not held on a parliamentary constituency basis. Details of the region and country—and in some cases the district and/or county—for each site are given in the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD) monthly extracts within the RESTATS database at:
https://restats.decc.gov.uk/app/reporting/decc/monthlyextract
National Statistics on all operational wind capacity (onshore and offshore) by UK country and English region, can be found in DECCs “Renewable electricity in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the regions of England” in September 2010's Energy Trends, available at:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/statistics/publications/trends/articles_issue/articlesissue.aspx
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This will be updated for 2010 in September 2011.
(1) These data exclude many small-scale, micro-generation sites, typically of less than 50 kW installed capacity.
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| Onshore wind turbine numbers and generating capacity by region | |||
| Region | Status | Total number of turbines | Total generating capacity (MW) |