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U.K. Carbon Calculator Shows 80% Reduction Achievable (Update1)
2010-07-27 12:09:05.872 GMT
(Updates with quote in fourth paragraph.)
By Alex Morales
July 27 (Bloomberg) -- The U.K. Department of Energy and
Climate Change announced a "carbon calculator" that shows the
country's goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80
percent in the six decades through 2050 is achievable.
The calculator is an online tool that allows power
consumers to gauge how to achieve the necessary cuts by
adjusting 34 measures of energy demand and supply, ranging from
the temperature of people's homes to nuclear power generation.
Each of the categories, 17 for demand and 17 for supply,
has four scenarios. They range from one, where no attempt is
made to fight climate change, to four, which the department
describes as a "extreme upper effort." The calculator shows
that an 80 percent cut could be achieved by a mixture of twos
(effort viewed as achievable) and threes (unlikely to happen
without significant changes.)
"These are possible pathways," U.K. Climate and Energy
Secretary Chris Huhne told lawmakers today in Parliament. "We
are not claiming to be able to see the future with certainty.
But we cannot continue on the current pathway: high-carbon,
highly dependent on imports, highly volatile prices."
The department plans further consultations on the inputs
with members of the public and experts in energy and economics
before updating it in October.
For Related News and Information:
Climate-change news: NI CLIMATE <GO>
Top environment stories: GREEN <GO>
Most-read environmental news: MNI ENV <GO>
Renewable Energy Stories: NI ALTNRG <GO>
--Editors: Mike Anderson, Reed Landberg
To contact the reporter on this story:
Alex Morales in London at +44-20-7330-7718 or
amorales2@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at +44-20-7330-7862 or
landberg@bloomberg.net.
