(Con):...I
take this opportunity to ask my noble friend to what extent the
Bill will encompass not necessarily new sources of energy but
sources of energy that I believe we have not developed to the
extent that we should. I am thinking in particular
of energy from
waste The reason why I am firmly committed
to energy from
waste is that it solves two problems in one go. It
not only takes waste that would otherwise go to landfill—in many
instances, these sites are now full—or that cannot be reused or
recycled, but it creates a new source of energy at the same time.
One successful example is in North Yorkshire, in the heart of my
old constituency of the Vale of York, at Flaxby. In that case,
the energy that was created was fed into the national grid, which
I think is a mistake. I believe that it should be fed to the
local community, to enable it to feel the benefits from this
locally sourced energy.
I believe that, as others have suggested this afternoon, we
should learn from other countries. I am particularly pleased that
just this week the EU has signed a memorandum of understanding
with Azerbaijan, securing a more stable gas supply than from
other unreliable and less dependable sources—let us face it, that
means Russia. Gas imports from Azerbaijan will be doubled to 20
billion cubic metres by 2027. That has to be extremely
welcome.
Others have referred to Denmark—and, being half Danish, it would
be remiss of me not to refer to Denmark too. Denmark was
completely caught out in 1973, in the original oil crisis. It did
not have natural sources of oil or gas to the extent that Norway
and other states did, but it turned that around in a short period
and now relies almost totally on renewables, including distance
warming and energy from
waste In Denmark, the local community benefits
from the reduced cost of heating, energy and hot water in their
homes. I believe that that immediately makes the community accept
what in this country there can be huge resistance to, such as a
chimney being part of a facility, as I found out to my cost...
(GP):...The
noble Baroness, Lady McIntosh, mentioned energy
from waste I am sympathetic to that, but we have
found that when we have incinerators, recycling rates go down.
The councils have a commitment to deliver a certain amount of
waste to the incinerator companies, but they cannot supply all
that waste because people are reducing—
(Con)
My Lords—
(GP)
I will not take any interventions. I am so sorry; we are all
tired and we want to get going, but I am happy to chat to the
noble Baroness outside...
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