Opinion

Pollard’s Patter

Plumb Center's head of sustainability Tim Pollard
Plumb Center’s head of sustainability Tim Pollard
So, 2015 is well underway  and what progress has been  made? Nearly one year on the launch of the domestic RHI has been very encouraging for some technologies, though less effective for others. We are seeing steady growth in the domestic PV market which should be welcomed by all. It is interesting to reflect that the Feed- in Tariff scheme took nearly 18 months to gain real traction so perhaps we should be a little patient about judging the efficacy of the RHI?

What is still very frustrating is the lack of understanding and commitment to giving domestic energy efficiency the visibility it deserves. At the time of writing we have seen statistics showing that in the EU, only Estonia eclipses the UK in the number of households spending twice the national average on fuel. As the election approaches we can be sure that energy prices will be a key factor.

The last published Energy Trends  showed that overall, renewable electricity generation during the third quarter 2014 rose 24 percent year-on-year to 13.4 TWh, while renewable electricity capacity jumped 19 percent to 23.1GW.

We must remain steadfast and clear in our messages, that the ONLY way to effectively manage consistently rising energy bills is to use less energy. Don’t be deflected by short term market blips, we all know that energy bills will continue to rise as resources come under pressure and infrastructure investment increases.

Renewables can, and MUST form a significant part of our integrated energy future.