Climate Change and SustainableEnergy Bill

Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The hon. Gentleman will be aware that the Deputy Prime Minister has responsibility for our commitments under the Kyoto treaty, and has an excellent range of experience. Electrical appliances are increasingly left on standby. Amazingly, in some countries, that represents up to5 per cent. of total electricity consumption. Reducing standby consumption to 1 W is a simple change, but it would make a substantial difference, enabling us to close down one or two power stations. Tackling the often bureaucratic arrangements to sell excess energy from renewable sources to the national grid would improve matters. The Bill’s modification of Ofgem’s statutory duties to take into account available information on microgeneration is a step in the right direction. We must improve the investment climate for renewable energy technologies and provide additional long-term funding, both for those technologies andfor insulation, which is important in hard-to-heat buildings. Training must be improved to meet current demands—anyone who has tried to find a central heating engineer will know that they are in short supply—and we must also greatly increase capacity and the range of skills, so that engineers can deal with the new technologies that are likely to come on to the market.