An on-line CO2 calculator, smart meters and real-time displays could be introduced to every home in the country under radical government plans to make energy consumers more efficient.
Presenting the white paper on energy to the House of Commons yesterday, Alistair Darling, the Trade and Industry Secretary, unveiled a raft of measures designed to reduce energy use throughout the UK.
Utility companies will be forced to provide their residential companies with energy-saving measures in a way that the government hopes will transform their relationship with consumers.
Mr Darling said: "From next year we propose (energy companies) double their current effort and from 2012 we aim to transform the way in which they see their relationship with their customers shifting the focus to the provision of energy services, increasing energy efficiency and saving carbon in the home, rather than simply selling them gas and electricity."
Smart meters and visual real-time displays will show how much power appliances such as TVs, digiboxes and DVDs are using when on stand-by mode.
Real time displays and smart meters will be rolled out in the next 10 years but between 2008-2010 real-time displays will be available free of charge to any household that asks for one.
Starkly warning that without radical solutions the energy gap would narrow, Mr Darling pointed out that leaving electric appliances on standby uses about 7% of all electricity consumed in UK homes, the equivalent to the electricity generated from two 600MW gas-fired power stations or more than 1500 2MW wind turbines.
Supermarkets, banks, hotel chains and large public sector organisations will be required to limit their emissions and individuals and communities will be encouraged to generate their own energy locally, through, for example solar panels and wind turbines.
To general support in the Commons, Mr Darling strengthened backing for renewable electricity.
He proposed the reform to the Renewables Obligation, which would mean that by 2015, the electricity supplies coming from renewables would be tripled but he added that it too was controversial. He said there were presently more than 170 applications in the planning process.
The road transport fuel obligation is intended to save a million tonnes of carbon a year, and Mr Darling said that they wanted to double the obligation if it is sustainable.
While there appeared to be a consensus on the need to meet the two big challenges: to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and to secure affordable energy supplies, there was no consensus over the solution.
The government is consulting on the merits of nuclear but the Trade Secretary said the government had reached the preliminary view that it would be in the public interest to allow energy companies to invest in nuclear power.
"Most nuclear power stations are set to close over the next 10 to 20 years at a time when we know demand for electricity is going up because of economic growth. Quite simply in the public interest we need to make a decision this year on whether we should continue to get some of our electricity from nuclear because new stations take a long time to build."
He warned that if nuclear was excluded there was every chance that its place would be taken by gas or coal generation which would emit carbon.
On carbon capture and storage, he said: "If it could be developed, it would help. But at this stage we cannot be certain of that. There is no commercial scale operation of CCS on power generation anywhere in the world."
Whatever the government decides on nuclear, Mr Darling made clear it would be up to the private sector to initiate, fund, construct and operate new plants as well as covering the cost of decommissioning and their full share of long-term waste management costs.
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