A green deal story

A new energy deal is set to boost the country's employment opportunities to 100,000 by 2015 in the insulation industry, says Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne.

The Green Deal is the Government's new and radical way of making energy efficiency available to all, whether people own or rent their property.

Mr Huhne said: “It's a massive economic and job opportunit which could help Britain's economy turn the corner.

With up to 100,000 green jobs up for grabs over the next 5 year, and even more in the long term, this is about growing our economy in a way that's good for jobs, the environment and energy security.”

He then added: “The Green Deal's about making people feel as warm as toat in their homes. I want Britain to say goodbye forever to leaky lofts and chilly draughts. At a time of increasing gas prices energy efficiency is a no-brainer.”

The work to upgrade the property will be paid back from the saving on energy bills, which means landlord will face no upfront costs when improving their properties.

By 2012, British gas plans to recruit a toal of 3,700 “green collar” jobs through a £30 million investment and help install enegy efficiency in its customers' homes at no up-front cost.

Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas, said: “With rising energy prices, there’s never been a better time to improve the energy efficiency of Britain’s homes.

“That’s why we’ve worked quickly to set up the British Gas Green Deal, a £30million investment in our customers’ homes. In total, we aim to have 3,700 green collar workers in place by 2012.”

The Green Deal, which involves a 3-step proces, is expected to be available from Autumn 2012 to shops and businesses.

The Deal is also part of the changes, which will help 15% of lowest income hoursehold at risk of fuel poverty.

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Carbon capture and storage story

A new technological programme will open to projects on gas-fired power plants and coal-fired power plants, the UK's energy and climate change department says.

The carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration programme is set to ensure the country continues to be at the forefront of CCS development as well as lead the world's development of CCS on gas and coal.

Chris Huhne, Enegy and Climate Change Secretary, said: “We won't be able to take carbon out of all gas plants overnight, but we hope to support the porcess by investment in new technology now.

“In the long run carbon capture will help provide us with a secure and affordable energy system and we want to encourage companies with projects on both gas and coal-fired power stations to come forward.”

Mr Huhne then pointed out that this does not mean the government is imposing the same emission constraints on gas-fired power plants as on coal in the short or medium term, and he wanted to encourage companies to come forward with potential projects.

The govenrment has recently announced that up to £1 billion is to be made available for the first commercial scale CCS demonstration project, and the government is committed to funding four such projects.

The decision to include gas-fired power stations in the programme was made after analysing the net benefits approach, including an assessment of the evidence and recommendations from the Climate Change Committee's second progress report, and information collected through the market sounding exercise.

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