Category: Climate change

I understand that something must be done, but this is not it. I want the Minister to explain two issues: will people be able to pay their energy bills, and will this cause more investment in dirty oil and gas? This Bill has so little detail, the Government are proposing to fill in about 90% of the details at a later date, and they expect us to just wave it through. We cannot know the impact of this Bill on ordinary people, but we know the Government have been determined to protect the profits of oil and gas companies. The Government are expecting us to take this Bill on trust and I do not trust the Government. Continue reading “Energy Prices Bill” →

Baroness Jenny Jones tackles the idea of economic growth in a debate on the government’s economic plans. “Many of those opposite sound like an anti-renewables coalition. Or even an anti-science coalition.”

Continue reading “This government is the anti-renewables coalition” →

Green Party Baroness, Jenny Jones, has called for the billions of
pounds currently being used to subsidise Drax Power Station to be used
for insulating homes and putting up solar panels. A BBC investigation
(Panorama 3/10/2022) has exposed the truth behind National Power’s
claims that it uses sawdust and  waste wood to fuel its giant,
electricity producing incinerator. Whole trees are being felled and
transported from as far away as Canada to burn in the UK. Much of this
is Drax logging precious ancient forest in British Columbia as well as
South East USA.

Continue reading “Drax subsidy should be spent on insulation and solar panels say Green Party Baroness” →

Rishi Sunak is cutting £400 off average energy bills which have risen by £1,500. It will help, but it’s not enough. The real solution would be to double the investment in renewables which have been putting a brake on energy prices over the last year, but there is nothing in the  government’s announcement that encourages that. In fact, they appear to have focused exclusively on a huge tax break for oil and gas companies that invest in UK fossil fuels – we will be asking questions on this.

Continue reading “Smoke, gas and mirrors” →

Green Party peer, Jenny Jones, has welcomed the big payback from renewables that will be helping to reduce energy bills in the autumn and called on the government to double the size of the investment allowed in the next round of renewable energy licenses.

The contract for difference scheme previously acted as a subsidy for renewable energy by offering investors a guaranteed price, but with rising gas prices forcing up energy bills, that guaranteed price is now well below what consumers are paying. A report by the right of centre think tank, Onward, worked out that renewables already save consumers £221 a year because they had displaced gas consumption.

Continue reading “Double renewables to give consumers a big payback” →