The PM’s energy plan does nothing to fix the woeful inefficiency of Britain’s housing

SIR – The Government’s energy strategy review gives me a strong feeling of déjà vu.

Over 30 years ago I was a Cabinet special adviser for energy for the government of Margaret Thatcher. We put up a pilot scheme to allow government departments to keep savings they made through energy efficiency. The Treasury sat on it. It did the same to a suggestion for lower taxes on unleaded petrol.

This week we had a strategy that addresses some aspects of supply, but not the important aspects of demand. There is no scheme to encourage homes to insulate and become more energy efficient. Much of the £9.2 billion supposedly earmarked some years ago for this area has not been applied. Yet we have the most energyinefficient housing stock in Europe.

That is one major deficiency in the plans. There are two others. The second issue relates to diversity. Baseload power is not just nuclear. Tidal energy is a natural fit for our island. And onshore wind, sensitively placed, remains an excellent option – not one to be largely dismissed.

Third, but most important: the Government must stop the absurd annual habit of putting all the clocks back one hour for winter time. Over 30 years ago the Department of Energy calculated that this cost the country several billion pounds. The simplest of all measures – why is it still unaddressed 30 years later?

Nick Martin

London W6

SIR – I have had solar panels on my home for years. Not only do I save energy by using them during the day whenever possible, but I also feed a great deal to the national grid.

Is it not time that the Government introduced a law that insists solar panels be installed on all new buildings, including commercial ones and dwellings, as well as on all existing council buildings across the UK?

The cost of installing a solar system on a new house would be a fraction of the overall building cost, and would benefit both the owner of the property and the nation as a whole.

Philip Spicksley Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire