Greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) trap heat in the atmosphere which would otherwise escape into space. Over millions of years, this naturally occurring process has allowed life as we know it to evolve and thrive.

However, since the Industrial Revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the human race’s technological advances and reliance on fossil fuels have resulted in ever increasing amounts of these greenhouse gasses being released into the atmosphere and an ever more volatile market in which demand will eventually outstrip supply and prices and availability could undermine the security and well-being of the country.

Concentrations of greenhouse gases are now higher than at any point in the past 800,000 years, and, of course, as more heat gets trapped in the atmosphere, the earth below heats up too.
Over the past century, average global temperatures have risen by 0.7°C. The ten warmest years on record have all been since 1990. Six of the ten warmest years on record in the UK were between 1995 and 2004. During August 2003, the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK of 38.5°C was taken in Brogdale in Kent, and during that month, over 2,000 people in the UK died as a result of the heat.

Rising temperatures also causes flooding and droughts, as weather becomes more extreme. The autumn and winter floods in 2000 in the UK were the worst for 270 years, and cost the farming industry nearly £500 million.

In addition, sea levels will continue to rise for several centuries after greenhouses gas concentrations in the atmosphere are stabilised because of the very large thermal inertia of the oceans. A noticeable effect of higher sea levels is the use of the Thames Barrier, which has increased from a few times a year when it was constructed to an average thirteen times a year now.

Remember, all this devastation has come from an increase of 0.7°C over the last century. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global temperatures are predicted to rise by between 1.4 and 5.8°C over the next century.

In 2005, total UK CO2 emissions were almost 554 million tonnes. 27% (153 million tonnes) of those emissions came from the energy we use to heat, light and power our homes.

Each household in the UK creates around six tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. That's six times the weight of the rubbish a household throws away in a year. It's also double the carbon dioxide emissions that the average car produces in a year.

The way we use energy is shockingly wasteful. Through our inefficient use of energy (gas guzzling vehicles, badly insulated buildings, poorly designed appliances etc) we needlessly throw away almost a third of the energy we use.

Yet implementing energy efficiency saves more money than it costs. Government research found that making their homes energy efficient would save consumers £12 billion a year in reduced bills (and that was before the recent rise in electricity and gas prices), and the average household could save around two tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, by 2008-2012 the UK must reduce it's baseline emissions of six major greenhouse gases by 12.5 per cent from a baseline target set in 1990.

The UK government has also set a target to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 20 per cent beneath that baseline. The long term goal is to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions by 60% by 2050. To achieve these targets the government is or has:

• Introducing mandatory Energy Performance Certificates for the sale/purchase of homes.
• Working with energy suppliers who, through the Energy Efficiency Commitment, provide grants to householders to help them improve the efficiency of their homes.
• Introduced the Climate Change Levy whereby businesses pay an additional tax on their energy use, unless exempted by their use of renewable energy.
• Introducing a Renewables Obligation; so that all electricity suppliers must provide 10% of the energy they sell from renewable sources by 2010.
• Lowering VAT from 17.5% to 5% on some energy saving materials (insulation and heating controls), if they are fitted by professional installers.
• Funding micro-generation grant schemes to the amount of £80 million. This includes the low carbon buildings programme which provides grants towards installing micro-generation technologies.
• Encouraging local authority planning departments to adopt micro-generation targets for new buildings.
• Councils can sign up to the Nottingham declaration which shows their commitment to tackling climate change. Over 160 had signed up on the last count and this figure is continuing to rise.
• A number of councils have made a commitment to tackle climate change, including improving the energy performance of their properties and running local campaigns.

Learn more…
Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change
Energy White Paper of May 2007
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
DEFRA UK Energy Efficiency Action Plan 2007
Parish and Town Councils - Act on CO2
Fuel Poverty Advisory Group, Sixth Annual Report, 2007
UK Renewable Energy Strategy
UK Energy Bill 2007-08
Energy: its impact on the environment and society: 2006
Carbon Footprint Calculator