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In a letter written to the Guardian by Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth (FOE), they have outlined their belief that the government is not doing enough to promote small-scale renewable energy generation in the UK.

The letter published on Jan 18th in the national daily newspaper asserted that the government’s proposed targets of producing two per cent of all energy by renewable means by 2020 is too low, and that the UK government should drastically increase its ambition if there is to be a realistic hope of fighting climate change through carbon emission reduction.

Initiatives such as the creation of the department of Energy and Climate change, the passing of the Energy Act in 2008 and the more recent announcement of the imminent introduction of a Clean Energy Cash Back Scheme have done little to allay the concerns of FOE. In a statement issued by the influential environmental group Executive Director, Andy Atkins he commented that,

“Businesses generating their own clean electricity will reduce their energy bills, increase their competitiveness and reduce their vulnerability to future fossil energy price rises.

He added, “Setting higher feed-in tariffs for small-scale renewable generators could treble the amount of renewable electricity generation by 2020 compared with the proposed scheme.”

With similar pressure groups such as We Support Solar urging the government to deliver higher targets with regards to 2020 renewable energy generation there is a mounting media pressure for the government to match its rhetoric with results.

If initiatives such as the Clean Energy Cash Back scheme fail to bring about a wholesale change in Energy production within the next five years, we can certainly expect further disquiet from those with a real desire to see the effects of climate change brought to an end.

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