ETI report : UK climate goals are achievable without compromising consumer expectations for light vehicles

Fri 21 June 2013 View all news

A major new report from the Energy Technologies Institute (ETI) says that UK energy and climate change goals can be achieved without needing consumers to compromise on expectations for light vehicles. the report says that in all likelihood a combination of petrol, biofuels and the at-home charging of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles will enable light vehicles to achieve their required contribution to the UK’s 2050 energy and climate change goals.

The report - "An affordable transition to sustainable and secure energy for light vehicles in the UK" - is now publicly available (and accessible via the associated links). The report seeks to define the least risk, least cost, evolutionary pathway for developing the UK energy infrastructure for light vehicles.

It says that this path is highly likely to achieve UK energy and climate change goals for 2050 and minimise atmospheric concentration of CO2 from cumulative emissions.

The key elements of the pathway are:

  • Continued ambition in EU emissions legislation for light vehicles to drive change
  • Rapid increases in the efficiency of conventional vehicles (including hybridisation) 
  • Moving back to gasoline rather than diesel for the liquid fossil fuel in light vehicles
  • Upgrading the UK oil supply system to increase resilience and balance outputs
  • Introducing and growing the volume of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
  • Installing 3kW home recharge points only when someone buys a plug-in vehicle
  • Adapting electric distribution regulations to ensure efficient network upgrades
  • Developing the market and systems for ‘smart’ energy demand management.
  • Targeting almost zero emissions from electricity generation by 2030 
  • Setting clear long-term sustainability criteria for biofuels to support innovation
  • Focusing primary vehicle energy research on advanced, sustainable biofuels
  • Defining a clear fuel standard to manage the transition to high blend biofuels
  • Making new vehicles available now ready for high blend bio-fuels in the mid 2020s
  • Ensuring a level playing field – carbon linked taxes, including on electricity
  • Creating long-term stability of policy to give investors confidence
  • Ensuring policy balances the costs equitably between different segments in society

To view the full report, please follow the associated links.

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