Today the Conservative Environment team, headed up by Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth, with Shadow Environment Minister Greg Barker, will make a key submission to the Conservative Quality of Life Policy Group on the potential of decentralised power.

Decentralised power means generating electricity closer to communities and businesses. Less wasteful than traditional remote power generation, it also has the potential to foster clean, renewable sources of power.

Later today David Cameron will accompany Peter Ainsworth and Greg Barker to the Stop Climate Chaos carbon ‘dating’ event in Westminster, which will examine the case for a UK carbon ‘budget’. Speaking ahead of the event David Cameron commented:

"Achieving a sustainable world and combating the threat of climate change will require some really fresh ideas and radical thinking. We cannot expect to meet the challenges of this century by toying with the structures and technologies we have inherited from the past, and the concept of Decentralised Energy should to be taken seriously."

Shadow Environment Secretary Peter Ainsworth said:

“The existing system of remote generation in large power plants and long distance transmission is inherently wasteful. Just as we want to promote energy efficiency in the home, so we need to look at ways of improving the efficiency of energy supply.

“Decentralised energy is a complex issue. It is just one of a number of possible new approaches to providing energy in an environmentally friendly way. The cost and carbon efficiency of decentralising supply will vary depending on the type of building being supplied and its use. But we believe that decentralised energy has exciting potential. So we are asking the Policy Group to evaluate its long term potential to reduce C02 emissions; assess its ability to maintain security of supply; evaluate its ability to enhance the productivity of the power sector to the benefit of consumers and the economy; and ascertain what changes would be needed to the regulatory framework to enable decentralisation to take place.”

The submission will be made in the form of a letter signed by the Shadow Environment spokesmen and will also be submitted for consideration by the Conservative Energy Review, chaired by Shadow Secretary for Trade & Industry, Alan Duncan. Commenting on the submission Greg Barker, Shadow Environment Minister said:

“The long term possibilities of Decentralised Energy and Micro-generation are huge. This will need rigorous examination but we think the government is being far too timid and backward looking in its approach to Energy. We want to look at creating a new competitive market framework which will respect both the environment and the need for security of supply by unleashing the technology of the future and delivering energy in a far more efficient and clean way to our communities and business.

“Other nations are grasping this imperative but Labour’s rigid mindset on energy issues is sadly backward looking and rooted in the big state planned models of the last century. No wonder this government has struggled to match the Prime Minister’s rhetoric on global warming with effective solutions.”

Stephen Tindale, Executive Director of Greenpeace, said:

“Greenpeace very much welcomes this move from the Tories. The current centralised energy system wastes an enormous amount of power. And with 150,000 people dying every year because of climate change, there is an urgent need to cut emissions, and decentralised energy is the way forward.”

Friends of the Earth Senior Energy and Climate Campaigner Germana Canzi said:

”Friends of the Earth welcomes the recognition that decentralised energy has an important role to play in a sustainable energy future - as part of a package that boosts energy conservation, renewable energy and technologies which burn fossil fuels far more efficiently than we do now. We are looking forward to more details on the Conservative's vision for a sustainable energy future.”

The case for decentralised energy is also supported by the Micropower Council which promotes home-based or small-scale energy generation. Welcoming the submission to the policy group Dave Sowden, Chief Executive said:

“Decentralised energy - particularly micro-generation - can play a major role in combating climate change, reducing dependency on imported fuels, increasing economic efficiency and UK competitiveness and engaging citizens in the wider impact of their own personal use of energy. We support the strong cross party consensus emerging on the merits of decentralised energy and are pleased to lend our support to this important initiative by the Conservative Party”