Huge investment is needed in energy efficiency, new report argues

There's a very real and significant need for more focus on conserving energy and reducing demand as part of efforts to tackle climate change emissions, rather than just making heat and power supplies cleaner, a report by Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has warned.

The paper is based on research conducted for the organisation by Cambridge Architectural Research and Anglia Ruskin University, argues that, without significant investment in energy efficiency measures, the UK will be forced to hand over huge areas of the countryside to wind turbines, solar panels and fuel crops in order to meet greenhouse gas cutting targets.

Campaigners have called for a much bolder national programme to reduce energy and carbon emissions from homes and community buildings, and for the implementation of stronger zero-carbon standards for new homes.

Nick Clack, senior energy campaigner at the CPRE, said: "Our research intensifies calls for the new government to implement a much bolder national programme to reduce energy and carbon emissions from homes if we are to get anywhere near the 80% emissions cuts required under the Climate Change Act.

"Unless there is effective government support for this work, we risk seeing large areas of the countryside lost to avoidable new energy infrastructure and even higher energy bills."

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