Category: Petition

Please sign the petition here and we will submit this to the Environmental Audit Committee of the UK Parliament:

We condemn the one-sided hearing on small modular rectors held by the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) and call upon the EAC to organise an enquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 per cent UK renewable energy system

Please scroll down for full explanatory info.

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We shall write to the EAC to complain about the one-sided oral evidence meeting on small modular reactors (SMRs) held by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) on December 13th, 2023, and the EAC’s failure to give due consideration to the possibility of 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy systems in the UK. We condemn the failure to include critics of SMRs in the session on December 13th.

We call upon the EAC to launch an even-handed inquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy system given that this is much more plausible and likely than a scenario where SMRs play a substantial role in decarbonising the energy system. You can see the way that the EAC’s hearing was slanted towards support for the notion of SMRs here: committees.parliament.uk/event/20052/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/.

You can see that the only speakers at the hearing were either from the nuclear industry or had a track record in being favourable towards SMRs. Many independent analysts believe that the prospects for SMRs are bleak and built on little more than wishful thinking. The only attempt to commercialise the idea, through the Nuscale project, was abandoned as uneconomic before construction even began.

Meanwhile, the option of a 100 per cent renewable energy system is being ignored. This is even though renewable energy is rapidly expanding around the world. There is now much more electricity generated from wind and solar power compared to nuclear energy. Nuclear generation in the world has been at a stagnant level this century. On top of this, the option of continuing with fossil fuels with carbon capture and storage is simply not happening and has not even been demonstrated to be fully practical for electricity generation.

Come to our webinar on February 21st! Register through eventbrite HERE

Some details:

Leading experts will support the petition calling on the UK Parliaments’s Environmental Audit Committee to conduct an enquiry into the practicalities of a 100 percent or near 100 percent renewable energy system for the UK. That is rather than the one-sided hearing held in December for small modular reactors (SMRs).

Speakers: Dr David Toke, Director of 100 per cent renewables uk (and Reader in Energy Politics, University of Aberdeen) will give a brief outline of UK studies on 100 per cent renewables in the UK. He is author of ‘Energy Revolutions – Profiteering versus Democracy’ to be published by Pluto Press in May

Professor Mark Z. Jacobson from Stanford University in California and the world’s leading advocate of 100 percent renewable energy systems will talk about the struggle for 100 percent renewable energy and the irrelevance of thinking about small modular reactors. He is author of ‘No Miracles Needed’ published by Cambridge University Press

Professor Steve Thomas from Greenwhich University and one of the world’s leading independent nuclear power analysts will talk about prospects for SMRs. Steve Thomas was one of those who submitted evidence to the EAC, but who was not called to talk.

Alison Downes is the Executive Director of the Stop Sizewell C Campaign. She will talk about the campaign to stop the monumental waste of financial and local resources that would be caused by Sizewell C.

You will be provided with a zoom link after registering. The zoom link for the webinar will open at 17.00 on Wednesday February 21st for networking, and the speakers will begin at 17.30. You will be sent a zoom link for the event and reminders after you register for a ticket. Registration is automatically assumed to confer consent for the event to be recorded. Attendees should mute unless contributing. Questions and comments to speakers should be posted through the chat facility.

A system based on renewable energy, energy efficiency, storage, and development of the electricity grid are increasingly being seen as not only practical but unavoidable as the basis for a fully decarbonised energy system. There have been massive reductions in the cost of renewable energy in the last decade. Just 7 per cent of the UK’s offshore waters would be needed to supply all UK’s energy (not just electricity) using offshore wind. See discussion here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/how-much-of-the-uk-will-be-taken-up-with-100-per-cent-renewable-energy

There have been several reports on the practicalities of a 100 percent renewable energy system. Indeed one was produced at the beginning of 2023 by 100percentrenewableuk. You can see details here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/new-report-shows-100bn-savings-with-100-renewable-energy-net-zero-plan. Also you can see a discussion of how energy storage can be organised to suit 100 per cent renewable energy scenarios here: 100percentrenewableuk.org/storage

See below for original petition text.

Update: the Government has, in effect proposed what we wanted, so we need to get support for that option in the Government consultation (which now closes on March 27th having been extended):

Calling on solar pv supporters – tell the govt consultation you want option 1 for future homes standard: ‘Option 1 (recommended): Solar PV panel coverage equivalent of 40% of the building’s foundation area for side-lit spaces and 75% for top-lit spaces.’ Go to gov.uk/government/consultations/the-future-homes-and-buildings-standards-2023-consultation/the-future-homes-and-buildings-standards-2023-consultation

Note: please wait a moment for confirmation here that your signature has been accepted, which requires consenting to the privacy policy – then you will receive an email with a link to click to confirm your signature – please do check that you receive that email and click to confirm otherwise your signature is not entered on the petition.

The Government is failing to ensure that new buildings are fitted with solar panels or heated by low carbon systems. Now the Government is falling behind the EU which is legislating to make solar panels mandatory on all new buildings.

The Government has said that new buildings must (from June 15th) emit around 30 percent less emissions compared to existing buildings. This will never ensure that new buildings have both solar panels and fossil-fuel-free heating. Indeed, under their regulations, poorly resourced local authorities may be hoodwinked by developers so that little emission reduction is actually achieved.

Meanwhile Germany is busy implementing a plan of making solar pv mandatory on all new commercial buildings and the standard practice on new homes as well. Why cannot this be done in the UK? According to the Building Research Establishment, if solar pv was installed on just all south-facing commercial roofspace ‘this could provide approximately 50% of the UK’s electricity demand’. Fitting solar panels on all houses could generate massive quantities of solar energy on top of this.

The Government has no real plans to ban fossil fuel boilers. In fact the gas industry talks of ‘blending’ hydrogen with natural gas sometime in the future using so-called  ‘hydrogen ready’ boilers. The Government’s current plans lack clear means to achieve their heat pump targets apart from some as yet unspecified ‘market-based mechanism’.

Now that the EU is legislating to phase in a requirement that all new buildings be fitted with solar panels, it is important to redouble pressure on MPs and the Government to make solar pv mandatory on all new buildings. Those who voted ‘Remain’ will say that the UK’s failure to do this represents how leaving the EU is weakening the UK’s drive for green energy. On the other hand environmentally conscious Leavers will say that the  UK has an opportunity to mandate fitting of solar panels more quickly than the EU’s minimum timetable.

Please write to your MP asking them to press the Government to at least to keep up with the EU, or preferably to introduce mandatory solar panels on new buildings more quickly than The EU! You can see some coverage of the EU’s proposals at https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/05/18/eu-wants-rooftop-pv-mandate-for-public-commercial-buildings-by-2025-residential-by-2029/

Sign the petition BELOW for mandatory solar panels on buildings and fossil fuels to be banned in new buildings. 

Please sign this petition (below) and, preferably, sign up to receive further information on the this green buildings campaign.  The petition will be sent to the relevant ministers, Michael Gove (local government) and Greg Hands (Energy) in England and also in the Scottish and Welsh Assembly Governments. We hope, later, among other actions to launch an official petition to the Government.

Further background information on this issue is available here.

Please see the latest Green Buildings webinar recording of the event which was held on November 16th.  Speakers: Kevin Holland, Managing Director of Solar Shed Emily Rice, Scotland Policy Analyst for Solar Energy UK Andrew Warren, Chair, British Energy Efficiency Federation (BEEF). Go to youtube at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spCPGaBhUYQ&t=139s

The Scottish Parliament should commit to a target of sourcing 100 per cent of all energy used in Scotland (not just electricity) from renewable energy by 2045 or earlier to complement the established legal goal of achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland by 2045. This would be assumed to be achieved when a) the annual Scottish renewable energy production is a least as much as total annual Scottish energy consumption and b) all non electricity consumption in Scotland is sourced from renewable energy.

Further background information on achieving the target is available here.

Please sign the petition here and we will submit it to the Scottish Government:

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