"This report shows just how one-dimensional our energy policy has become, with the Governments current fixation on the power sector.

The Committee has found that low-carbon heat can be three times as cost-effective in cutting carbon as measures in the power sector, and yet for heat there is no equivalent to the Renewables Obligation, which only works to encourage renewable electricity generation.

It's simply staggering that a Government obsessed with placing the carbon price at the centre of its climate change policy, continues to ignore some of the lowest-cost solutions available to it.

But maybe with Gordon Brown's past record of fiscal prudence and growing interest in climate change we may see a change in attitudes towards some of the cheapest and most reliable forms of renewable energy, such as wood heating and the sun!

We welcome the Committees report, but it's worrying that Ministers are putting the finishing touches to an Energy White Paper that may well overlook such a crucial element of our energy use."

Notes for Editors

1. The Renewable Energy Association is the largest renewables trade association in the UK. It has almost 500 members, active across the full range of renewable energy technologies and applications.

2. House of Commons Trade and Industry Committee report Local energy - turning consumers into producers was published on 30 January 2007. Link below.

3. In 2005, the Government-sponsored Biomass Task Force estimated that with an appropriate package of support measures it should be possible to increase the renewables share of the heat market to 3% and 7% by 2010 and 2015. Link to report below

4. The Carbon Trust has estimated that using UK resources alone, biomass heating could deliver 5.6 million tonnes of carbon savings per annum (equivalent to over 20 million tonnes of CO2. Link below