Energy Efficiency and Microgeneration Bill [HL]

My Lords, I, too, thank and congratulate my noble friend Lord Redesdale on introducing the Bill. It is funny how in these debates you often find out things about Members from opposite sides. On this occasion, I found out something about noble friends. It seems that everybody on the Liberal Democrat Benches is having their kitchens redone. I do not have a question about the pay-back period in this area. My concern is that, as we speak, my ceiling is being taken out, and I wonder whether I will be able to eat at all this weekend. Perhaps I will have to come back quickly to the Members’ Dining Room on Monday, but we will see about that. The key thing about this Bill is that it brings the issues down to individuals and individual households. I have recently been to a number of small-scale showings of Al Gore’s ““An Inconvenient Truth””. The reaction at the end of that presentation is one of ““What we can do as individuals?””. Too often with global warming and climate change, we are intimidated by the problem being so large, long-term and seemingly intractable that we wonder what we can do about it as individuals. Then we remember that the United Kingdom is only responsible for some 2 per cent of carbon emissions, the EU 13 per cent and so on. The problem is elsewhere, but there is a great wish by individuals who are increasingly coming to recognise the problem, as noble Lords have said, to take some action themselves. The Bill shows how that can start to happen on an individual basis. From the Government’s point of view, there are only a limited number of ways in which this can be done, and the Bill reflects some of them. One, as we know, is green taxation, carbon emissions trading and the pricing side of things. Again, the Bill brings pricing or charging down to the household level, in that it makes a statement that by improving our energy efficiency or producing energy ourselves, we are not penalised by increasing council taxation on our own properties. It has that ticked. We have a positive in that the Bill does not add regulation, but removes some on planning issues, particularly in agriculture; again, we have a tick. Information is important in keeping people onside and maintaining their enthusiasm for and recognition of these issues. That conveniently ties in with other areas of government legislation, such as that on estate agents and household information packs, a critical area tying in with the good will and wishes of those concerned about these issues to do this in a practical way. There is another important area. I have recently moved to a hill by the coast in Cornwall. There is no better place, other than many in Scotland, to maximise wind energy. We have looked at wind generation with a 6.5 kilowatt generator on our property, which is technically feasible. When we look at the capital cost, however—something like £21,000—it is a lot of money for any household. Although we talk about payback, which is important, there are a number of other important items of household expenditure. Even in an area with a high level of wind energy, our payback is estimated to be something like 12 years. As the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, has pointed out, financial service businesses and lenders have not been pro-active in terms of householders and consumers being able to get the cash flow for micro-energy. It would clearly be best if the savings made were equal to future loan repayments, but the financial markets do not quite work in that way. There is a clause in the Bill of the noble Lord, Lord Redesdale, reflecting affordability and cash flow. The Government have important targets on cutting carbon emissions. Unlocking the potential of individuals, households and families to help those targets is very important within a national and global context. On behalf of the Liberal Democrat Benches, I therefore welcome the Bill, as have other noble Lords who have already spoken. I recommend that the Government take the Bill though both Houses; it is complementary to the Climate Change Bill we expect later in this Session.