To summarize, if we look at all the most promising sources of renewable energy supplies; solar, hydro, tidal, wind, waves and geothermal, they could in combination contribute a proportion of energy needed to meet our increased electricity demand but it wouli be but a small proportion of the increased demand and nothing to
replace the present demand, more than 20% of which is met by nuclear
energy.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
There
Could our problems be solved by improved energy efficiency? is no stronger advocate of energy efficiency than myself. I have mobilised the biggest campaign for energy efficiency that has ever taken place in post-war Britain. As a result I hope that in the coming years we can reduce our demand to 20% below what it would otherwise be, but we must recognise that demand constantly increases. Over the last 35 years we have improved our energy efficiency by 35% but we have increased our demand for all energy by
37%.
If we
can improve our energy efficiency by 20% using all of the high
technologies available to us and at the cost of some £20-30 billion
of investment, we will have made a substantial contribution to
meeting the increasing energy needs of the country rather than
reducing the net amount that we need to use. We must also consider
very carefully the possibilities of combined heat and power and we
are studying the economic potential of an area which could well
improve the efficient use of energy in a whole range of locations.
THE NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
As many countries in the world have turned to nuclear energy as the
only viable source of energy for the future, investment of about
£10 billion a year on average in nuclear power stations has been
taking place. If, by the year 2050 the world's energy requirements have expanded at any normal rate of expansion, and of that world
demand only 25% of electricity is generated from nuclear power,
there will be a market for nuclear fuel services worth £25 billion a
year and capital investment in power stations of £20 billion a year.
One of the areas of major economic growth and activity is therefore
likely to be the world's provision of nuclear energy. Britain is
well equipped to have an important share of that market place; we
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