15 November 2013
Increasing energy efficiency in Islanders' homes is a priority, according to the Minister for the Department of the Environment.
Speaking following the release of the Environment Scrutiny Panel's report on energy in Jersey, Deputy Rob Duhamel said he wanted to address the energy efficiency of much of Jersey’s existing housing stock.
‘It's a priority of mine to ensure that people live in warmer homes, have more affordable bills and that the Island’s carbon footprint is lessened and its reliance on the importation of fossil fuels is minimised.'
The Environment Scrutiny Panel reviewed a Department of the Environment report on the future of energy in Jersey. Pathway 2050 - An Energy Plan for Jersey, was published earlier this year. It outlines a potential energy future for Jersey and proposes three main policies: managing demand, energy security and affordability of energy for Islanders.
It also sets out how Jersey can achieve a reduction in carbon emissions of nearly 80% lower than 1990 levels by 2050. This target is in line with the commitment of other advanced jurisdictions that have also signed the Kyoto Protocol including the UK.
The Environment Scrutiny Panel made a number of recommendations which the Minister and departmental officers will now consider in detail before putting a final version of the policy before the States.
Scrutiny panel endorsement
Deputy Duhamel welcomed the panel’s findings, 'I'm delighted that the energy Scrutiny Panel has wholeheartedly commended Pathway 2050 and seen fit to provide such a ringing endorsement for this key policy that has been some time in the making.
‘The magnitude of this review, including the wide ranging evidence, must make this one of the most extensive reviews that the Panel has undertaken and reflects, in my view, the importance of the subject matter.
‘Overall, the Panel made 34 findings overall and my officers and I will now consider these in further detail. However, I find very little to disagree with and I intend to use them to assist me as I update the draft policy into a final version that will be presented to the States in due course’.
He has also welcomed the Panel's view that expansion of the Energy Efficiency Service into the able-to-pay sector is a priority.
'Helping Islanders to minimise their energy use is one of the key areas in which the three goals of the plan – energy sustainability, security and affordability can all be met.
A key action of the States Strategic Plan 2012-2015 is to ‘introduce an Energy Policy to move towards a low carbon economy, with more renewable energy and energy efficiency’. This stems from Jersey’s requirement under the UK’s ratification of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It requires Jersey ‘to introduce, where possible, and having taken into account local circumstances, policies in line with the objectives of the UK Climate Change Programme’.
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