Output details

Energy Efficiency and Conservation in the UK: Missed Opportunities and Future Possibilities

This work forms a chapter of a book sponsored by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and which contained contributions from international experts in their fields from academia and industry. Although other authors have addressed the topic, this particular contribution was the first to bring together a reasoned critique which linked policies over the crucial period of de-nationalisation (1979–1996), market liberalisation (1996–2000) and market re-orientation (2000 onwards) of the energy industries in the UK. The deliberate line of enquiry draws on my work in the field of energy conservation over many years. In particular it exposes the weaknesses of the systems which have been put in place in the UK over several decades which concern the relative lack of industry-led encouragement for energy-efficiency. This history means that energy consumption in the existing UK building stock exceeds that of many competitor nations. The source materials for the chapter include many reports, government departmental documents and statistics, important information from key commentators and other research. Though the main analysis concerns impacts on energy use in and around buildings, fuel use in transport and industry is also considered. The reason for focusing on buildings is the identification of that sector by the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as being the main sector able to introduce economies at zero net cost or less. The output includes reasoned criticism of policies over several decades and identifies continuing gaps in policies and procedures. Research on related themes is on-going and has produced a number of other outputs over the census period.