told council leaders that decentralised energy could make "an enormous contribution" to slashing carbon emissions. Pioneering local authorities had already shown what was possible by using waste wood to fuel homes or setting up efficient renewable local sources, he said. Now that "exciting vision" had to be extended across the country. "In Britain we are still lumbered with the same backward-looking, central-planning mindset that has dominated thinking on electricity since the first half of the last century. There will always be a need for a robust and secure national grid; energy security is vital. But it is a myth that it can only be provided from remote and inefficient power stations or that electricity has to travel hundreds of miles to market. We live in a fast-changing world of scientific research and innovation. I want Britain to be at the forefront of the green energy opportunity and I want local government to be in the forefront of Britain's environmental progress. We need to think in an entirely new way about energy. The future of energy is not top-down, it's not centralised - it's bottom-up and decentralised."
The problem is that the Tories have so long been about centralisation and big business, it's hard to credit that he/they really mean this.
Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Nuclear power is 'last resort', says Cameron:
Filed in: UK, nuclear, power, generation, local, decentralisation, electricity
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