CERT and the no brainer of home insulation

The United Kingdom’s energy companies, that virtual monopoly of supply of gas and electricity, are, as part of the various climate change emission reduction targets, obliged to carry out certain measures to reduce the demand for energy from fossil fuel sources. These obligations are known as the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target. It is an ill fitting name, as the “target” is a legal obligation to carry out so many measures, not to reduce carbon emissions but to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide. At the risk of being called a pendant, I would prefer that the obligation was more accurately named, but I suppose “CERT” is an easy to remember acronym, even if it is confusing.

Dumping compact fluorescent light bulbs – you could not make it up!

I am always complaining that government targets (and world targets) do not help in the fight against climate change. Instead of targets we should have laws requiring the taking of measures. In the United Kingdom it is odd that  government that is so keen to pass laws to create new criminal offences (over 3,600 of them at the last count even though the criminal law was perfectly adequate previously) shies away from passing laws to require climate change measures.

Who supplies energy to the United Kingdom

Who supplies the energy of the United Kingdom? Energy is so important, and a bit like money, not for its own sake but because of the uses to which we put it. Households, organisations and businesses need energy to heat their premises and water, to power their appliances and machinery, to cook food and to make their lives clean, healthy and comfortable. The energy companies supply the current or the gas that does these things, so they play an essential part in our lives.

Household carbon dioxide emissions and why government policy to reduce them is odd

Households are responsible for over a quarter of the United Kingdoms’ carbon dioxide emissions, without including transport and cars. It should be fairly easy to get the emissions figures from households down significantly but there appears to have been only tiny reductions.

The emissions come from energy use, usually gas and electricity consumption, but in some cases heating oil and liquid petroleum gas consumption. These are the figures for domestic carbon dioxide emissions from DEFRA – the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

We will all spend more on insulation, low energy light bulbs and other measures

Mr Benn, the Environment Secretary is going to require energy companies to spend more money on energy saving measures, such as insulation and low energy light bulbs with some scope for renewables.

Under the Carbon Emissions Reductions Target “CERT” (formerly known as the Energy Efficiency Commitment “EEC”), energy companies are obliged to spend an amount of money – it used to be £500 million a year but Mr Benn is proposing to double that amount – on energy efficiency measures.