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The UK’s investment in energy efficiency has already saved the economy £37.2 billion every year by reducing the need for centralised generation capacity and the country’s dependence for imported fossil fuel sources.
A report from the newly renamed Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) has found that demand-side investment has saved the UK the need for 14 power plants and cut fossil fuel imports by two thirds. By 2020 decentralised energy could save the UK a further £5.6 billion, the report claims.
“Cutting energy waste using demand side services delivers economy wide benefits,” said ADE director Tim Rotheray in a statement alongside the report.
“These investments are distributed and often unseen but taken together have a huge impact on the UK economy,” he added.
Despite the contribution that demand-side technologies are already making to the UK energy sector, and the wider economy Rotheray said that energy policy continues to favour centralised energy solutions and risks “overlooking the substantial contribution that users and individual actions can make”.
“With a clear, simple policy approach that values these smaller contributions, demand side services can help consumers do even more to cut waste, improve competitiveness and reduce emissions. By 2020, we could save consumers a further £5.6 billion and make the UK a more attractive place to do business,” Rotheray said.
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