:00:13. > :00:18.As energy bills rise, people are getting desperate. Things are that
:00:19. > :00:23.bad that you have to staple a sleeping bag to the wall? Yes It's
:00:24. > :00:28.horrendous. While political leaders have knocked up their own solutions.
:00:29. > :00:34.Freeze that bill. And found a common enany. The big six clearly have all
:00:35. > :00:36.produced the rather similar price increases that people have thought
:00:37. > :00:41.were wholly unreasonable and they were. With hundreds of billions of
:00:42. > :00:45.pounds needed to renew our power system, energy bosses are warning
:00:46. > :00:48.there will be a price to pay. Either the Government pays for it, or
:00:49. > :00:52.consumers have to pay and the reality is it will come through to
:00:53. > :00:56.bills. What will happen if the politicians don't deal with it? It's
:00:57. > :01:20.affordability and it's going to recur and recur and recur.
:01:21. > :01:28.Energy, it light up our lives and shields us from the cold. Here in
:01:29. > :01:39.Blackpool, the famous light on the Golden Mile power the local economy.
:01:40. > :01:58.By attracting visitors and the cash. Move from the seafront to the Home
:01:59. > :02:04.Front and energy is equally vital. Here, the battle is against rising
:02:05. > :02:08.costs and there are many casualties. Blackpool has all of the factors
:02:09. > :02:11.that lead to cold homes. Low incomes, high unemployment and old
:02:12. > :02:15.housing stock, but those together and this place has the heightest
:02:16. > :02:22.proportion of fuel poverty in the country. Last year, the north-west
:02:23. > :02:27.saw England's biggest spike in excess winter debts. Staying warm
:02:28. > :02:38.this winter is top priority for the couple who live here. They've taken
:02:39. > :02:43.some drastic measures. I'm beginning to get an idea of all the work
:02:44. > :02:47.you've done. It's an old house and it takes old methods. This is the
:02:48. > :02:52.number one of the jobs you've done. What else? In here, we have got a
:02:53. > :02:58.very cold wall there. The insulation is not very good in the cavity, so I
:02:59. > :03:04.decided I would put some polystyrene up here. Also, I've put a throw up
:03:05. > :03:08.there. It seems like pretty desperate measures. I'll show you my
:03:09. > :03:13.bills, even for a small place like this. Last winter, the cold forces
:03:14. > :03:18.Josh and Helen to retreat from the bedroom and sleep in the
:03:19. > :03:23.sittingroom. She recently had a triple heart bypass operation. I
:03:24. > :03:29.have to keep myself warm and to keep myself as a level heat and if I
:03:30. > :03:34.don't and I take a it on I shiver and I go into shock and the heating
:03:35. > :03:38.has made it a lot worse. Is keeping warm for you a matter of life and
:03:39. > :03:43.death? It's very important to keep me alive. Illness forced Josh to
:03:44. > :03:46.give up a career in forestry and their flat is heated with
:03:47. > :03:56.electricity and every month they see the cost. How much are you paying? I
:03:57. > :04:02.keep every slip I get. ?155. Even though you have brought yourselves
:04:03. > :04:06.down nearly to one room, it's ?155? One room, yeah. Polystyrene isn't
:04:07. > :04:12.the only thing they've stuck to the ceiling. I covered part of the
:04:13. > :04:16.ceiling there with a fleece off a bed. Things have got that bad you've
:04:17. > :04:23.got to staple a sleeping bag to the wall? Yes, because it is
:04:24. > :04:29.horrendously cold. That is just like a duvet. It's actually a fleece from
:04:30. > :04:40.under the bed. A mattress cover? Yes. Staple it up. -- staple it up.
:04:41. > :04:46.Right there. Is that good? That's right. There you go. A couple more,
:04:47. > :04:58.maybe? Yeah. Do you reckon this could save a few pennies, do you?
:04:59. > :05:02.Oh, yes, I advise everyone to do it. Average gas and electricity bills
:05:03. > :05:07.have jumped 30% in the last three years. And the big six energy supply
:05:08. > :05:13.companies stand accused of profiteering. The resulting
:05:14. > :05:17.political row has been electric. Many people face a choice this
:05:18. > :05:20.winter - between heating and eating. These are the ordinary people of
:05:21. > :05:25.this country, who this Prime Minister will never meet and whose
:05:26. > :05:30.lives they will never understand. He is acting like a conman. That is
:05:31. > :05:38.what we are seeing. He is promising something he knows he can't deliver.
:05:39. > :05:43.A bold and popular pledge repeated in all weathers, was the tipping
:05:44. > :05:49.point that started a rush to find a quick fix for or rocketing energy
:05:50. > :05:56.bills. We know what a Labour Government would mean. Freezing
:05:57. > :06:03.energy bills until 2017. Freeze that bill. What difference would it make?
:06:04. > :06:07.For families, it would save at least ?120. For businesses, like the small
:06:08. > :06:14.businesses I've been meeting, it would save thousands of pounds. It's
:06:15. > :06:20.a key element of Labour's cost of living campaign. Putting squarely in
:06:21. > :06:23.its sights the energy company profits. The target of much
:06:24. > :06:31.political and public outrage. You can see it here. Brutish gas and eat
:06:32. > :06:41.or heat. Energy bosses described as cowards. But is this anger hinding
:06:42. > :06:45.An Invonvenient Truth? The multi-billion pound truth is in the
:06:46. > :06:50.hands of the private sector. The head of the most respected and
:06:51. > :06:54.influential economic organisation thinks freezing bills when you can't
:06:55. > :07:03.control world prices won't work. If you freeze the price of energy and
:07:04. > :07:07.the international prices of energy rise it means there's going to be a
:07:08. > :07:11.very bill difference to pay. Who's going to be paying the difference?
:07:12. > :07:15.Well, are you going to ask the investors to take the difference?
:07:16. > :07:21.They'll probably go bankrupt. How will you get people to come in and
:07:22. > :07:26.invest, to get their money back in 30 or 40 years' time, when you are
:07:27. > :07:32.saying there's going to be a freeze? I think this is simply not
:07:33. > :07:38.consistent. It's not economically objective. I put that to the Shadow
:07:39. > :07:42.Energy Secretary. I don't accept that analysis. The price freeze is
:07:43. > :07:46.about recognising that the British public, whether it's domestic or in
:07:47. > :07:49.businesses, have been overcharged and that shouldn't be allowed to
:07:50. > :07:54.happen. We are going to have a temporary price freeze to reflect
:07:55. > :07:58.what has been going on. The fact is that wholesale prices dropped
:07:59. > :08:05.substantially in 2009. That was never reflected in a pars-on to the
:08:06. > :08:08.consumers and -- pass-on to the consumers and our policies are about
:08:09. > :08:14.getting back to trust and confidence in this market. Generators of newer
:08:15. > :08:18.technologies like wind and solar need investment and fear being early
:08:19. > :08:24.casualties as politicians fight to lower prices. I was surprised that
:08:25. > :08:29.Ed Miliband came out with such a statement. Because everybody will
:08:30. > :08:34.ask him how will we fund everything that we want to do, which is energy
:08:35. > :08:37.efficiency and deliver renewable energy technology and low carbon
:08:38. > :08:42.futures. There was just no answers in there. How many vestors in energy
:08:43. > :08:46.told you they think this is a good idea in Well, they've said to us
:08:47. > :08:50.that they would like to discuss it more with us and how it will work. I
:08:51. > :08:56.think what they want to be reassured -- So they haven't told you? What
:08:57. > :09:02.they wanted to be reassured about is that it's a temporary price freeze,
:09:03. > :09:06.which it is. With customers angry with the companies and Labour on the
:09:07. > :09:12.front foot, the Government found an answer in their own policies and not
:09:13. > :09:21.at a cost to profits. Moving heating health for the elderly and vule
:09:22. > :09:25.rabble and -- rulener rabble -- vulnerable takes ?50 off the bill.
:09:26. > :09:30.The big six have clearly lost some trust over the last few weeks and
:09:31. > :09:34.prosecution deuced the increases that people have thought were wholly
:09:35. > :09:36.unreasonable and they were. The Government took action, because we
:09:37. > :09:40.have not even increases like this before or 8% or 9% and that's why
:09:41. > :09:45.the Governmented acted. This has nothing to do with Mr Miliband. The
:09:46. > :09:49.parties are united in blaming the energy companies. How does the one
:09:50. > :09:54.which announced the biggest price rise respond? The big six companies'
:09:55. > :09:58.profits are up by one billion and you've been overcharging and failing
:09:59. > :10:01.to pass on a lot of the discounts. Is that true? No, I think it's
:10:02. > :10:06.absolutely wrong and part of the problem we have had is that we have
:10:07. > :10:10.had lots of speculation and quite frankly wild talk without people
:10:11. > :10:20.looking at the facts. The facts are that we lost money in 2009 and 2010
:10:21. > :10:25.and 2011 and in 12 we made a 3% margin. The political dialogue means
:10:26. > :10:30.that with rising bills they want someone to supply and we are the
:10:31. > :10:34.easiest to shoot at. Energy investment analysts say a tax on
:10:35. > :10:40.companies and turmoil over policy are already making it harder to
:10:41. > :10:45.raise money. I recently returned from the US where I met the top 30
:10:46. > :10:51.or 40 institutional investors who invest in UK energy and utilities
:10:52. > :10:56.and their questions are around not so much do I provide more capital,
:10:57. > :10:59.or about do I put my capital out. They are thinking of taking money
:11:00. > :11:09.out of it because of the political riS snBG Correct -- risk. Correct.
:11:10. > :11:13.Old power stations are becoming obsolete faster than new capacity is
:11:14. > :11:19.being built. The amount of spare generation that is around at the
:11:20. > :11:24.peak of day has been down to 5%. I think next winter it will be even
:11:25. > :11:29.smaller. Will we get through this winter? Yes, I think so. Next
:11:30. > :11:33.winter? I don't know. We are only going to face a difficult couple of
:11:34. > :11:37.winters if nothing is done. Let me assure you, we are doing things.
:11:38. > :11:41.Decisions are being taken to catch up with the legacy of
:11:42. > :11:46.underinvestment and to get new-power generation built. We are committed
:11:47. > :11:50.to more than tripling the amount of renewable energy. How will that
:11:51. > :11:55.affect the bill? As a guide, we'll open up what currently hits the door
:11:56. > :11:59.mat. Nearly half of it is made up of the raw cost of energy and it's
:12:00. > :12:03.production. -- its production. Nearly a quarter in pipes and pylons
:12:04. > :12:07.to our homes and the remainder is divided between Government levies
:12:08. > :12:15.and taxes and then there are company costs plus profits of around 5%.
:12:16. > :12:19.Looking forward, like the imported gas in this tanker, it will remain
:12:20. > :12:25.the biggest chunk of the bill. It may get dearer or cheap, but it's
:12:26. > :12:30.beyond our politician' control and then comes the bit they do decide.
:12:31. > :12:35.The cost of ensuring a low-carbon future, that limits our contribution
:12:36. > :12:40.to climate change. A transition along with replacing old power
:12:41. > :12:46.infrastructure, estimated to cost at least ?110 billion by 2020, but more
:12:47. > :12:50.thereafter. The chief scientific adviser has warned the Government
:12:51. > :12:54.not to ignore the evidence of global warming and few of our senior
:12:55. > :13:02.politicians would disagree with that, but do they gloss over the
:13:03. > :13:06.tough consequences? The real challenge is the most extraordinary.
:13:07. > :13:10.None of us would be talking about this if we had low carbon forms of
:13:11. > :13:17.energy that were cheaper than fossil fuels. The Climate Change Act of
:13:18. > :13:20.2008 set us on an ambitious task and was supported by all sides. Only
:13:21. > :13:26.five MPs voted against. Five years on, some of the bills are due. Are
:13:27. > :13:31.the politicians deflecting the blame? If they decide we should
:13:32. > :13:38.continue to pursue the quay carbonisation strategy as our
:13:39. > :13:41.primary goal, then they need to engage and convince the public it's
:13:42. > :13:47.a price worth paying. If they can't do that, then we'll have a
:13:48. > :14:01.recurrence of the problems we have now. It will reare occur and recur
:14:02. > :14:06.-- re-occur and re-occur. Here at Hinkley Point, the Government will
:14:07. > :14:10.guarantee a price of 35 years at nearly twice the cost of today's
:14:11. > :14:15.electricity. Every time we sign off a windfarm deal or a nuclear deal
:14:16. > :14:19.with long-term contracts, those are expensive contracts relative to
:14:20. > :14:23.where we are today. Now, they may be very, very good deals for us, if
:14:24. > :14:26.prices dramatically increase, but if gas prices stay where they are or
:14:27. > :14:33.fall, those will be very expensive bets.
:14:34. > :14:39.While new nuclear reactors are agreed, coal power stations are
:14:40. > :14:50.being shut down. These mechanical grabbers used to bring in about
:14:51. > :14:54.10,000 tonnes a day. Now you are lucky to scrape together a handful.
:14:55. > :14:58.Last year, coal was the UK's largest source of electricity and this year
:14:59. > :15:02.it is the cheapest. But this coal-fired power station at Tilbury
:15:03. > :15:03.has burnt its last. After 46 years of power production, the furnaces
:15:04. > :15:15.are cold and the docks idle. Nigel Staves was the last manager.
:15:16. > :15:21.And how does it feel to you now? Are you looking at it? It's very sad.
:15:22. > :15:24.It's very sad to see the power station closed. Was there actually
:15:25. > :15:27.anything wrong with the plant? Was it functioning perfectly well? Oh,
:15:28. > :15:31.no. No, no. Was it functioning? Functioning very well. In fact, it
:15:32. > :15:35.was one of the lowest cost producers of energy in the UK and for an old
:15:36. > :15:38.power station very efficient because we'd renewed the turbines. The power
:15:39. > :15:41.station closed due to an EU environmental directive, demanding
:15:42. > :15:45.coal generators shut down unless they cut their emissions. For two
:15:46. > :15:47.years, Tilbury switched to burning wood chip but closed for good in
:15:48. > :15:56.October this year. At today's prices, coal is the
:15:57. > :16:00.cheapest form of generation. And if we looked at what was happening on
:16:01. > :16:05.the grid today, we would see that coal is generating about 40% of our
:16:06. > :16:10.electricity. So, do you think this shut down was premature? My own
:16:11. > :16:16.personal view is that it is premature, if we want to keep the
:16:17. > :16:19.cost down. And we should have been more gradual in the way that we've
:16:20. > :16:24.approached our investment into renewables. You need at least 1,000
:16:25. > :16:25.wind turbines to replace what you have at Tilbury, which would cover
:16:26. > :16:36.all of Thurrock. Coal is a cheap but very high carbon
:16:37. > :16:38.source of electricity. To make it less attractive, the British
:16:39. > :16:43.government and the EU introduced carbon taxes. And, by 2020, they'll
:16:44. > :16:52.be the biggest single addition to your bill - adding ?67. It's a move
:16:53. > :16:58.supported by the OECD. What we should have er is a very important
:16:59. > :17:14.price on emissions. The enemy is carbon. We know the enemy and that
:17:15. > :17:18.is the one we have to fight. We have to put a big fat price on the enemy.
:17:19. > :17:20.And he has warned the British government not to retreat -
:17:21. > :17:23.personally. So, you've spoken to George Osborne face-to-face about
:17:24. > :17:26.this? Oh, yeah. I asked straight, point blank. We should stay the
:17:27. > :17:30.course, you should stay the course. You should be very proud of the
:17:31. > :17:32.initiatives. Despite reports of pruning the greenery, the Government
:17:33. > :17:35.has largely stayed the course. They have just locked in substantial
:17:36. > :17:40.subsidies for low carbon suppliers, like wind and nuclear, in the Energy
:17:41. > :17:43.Bill, about to become law. My own numbers suggest that it's going to
:17:44. > :17:46.lead to around a 30% increase in electricity bills by 2020 and
:17:47. > :17:48.probably a 100% increase in electricity bills in real terms, by
:17:49. > :17:56.2030. The operators of offshore turbines
:17:57. > :18:01.are guaranteed to be paid three times today's electricity price for
:18:02. > :18:05.the power they produce. But it does decrease over time. Onshore wind and
:18:06. > :18:11.solar technologies have already got cheaper and their subsidies have
:18:12. > :18:14.been trimmed back. I think prices will go upfront but, in the long
:18:15. > :18:20.term, prices will come down, associated with renewable energy. As
:18:21. > :18:24.more is deployed, the cost of those technologies will come down and
:18:25. > :18:33.there are views the energy bill will get lower.
:18:34. > :18:39.Is there a quicker way of cutting the carbon and the bill? The
:18:40. > :18:43.simplest answer lies in using less energy. That's what they have
:18:44. > :18:50.achieved in Blackpool, where the lights are now back in the
:18:51. > :18:55.warehouse. That's a filament lamp that would take five watts and that
:18:56. > :18:58.will take less than one. It is actually quite squinty, quite bright
:18:59. > :19:02.to look at, while that is not. And it is a little bit warm, wasting the
:19:03. > :19:06.energy there, isn't it? Yeah. And that is why we have so few of these
:19:07. > :19:10.now. We have saved over a megawatt in ten years of the illuminations
:19:11. > :19:13.doing this, which is like two-thirds of our energy capacity. Over many,
:19:14. > :19:17.many years, which is what they will last, they will save a lot more in
:19:18. > :19:21.terms of running costs. It is just how amazing how we are saving. The
:19:22. > :19:25.Government believes we can pull the same trick in our homes - prices up,
:19:26. > :19:27.but bills down due to energy saving. They estimate more efficient
:19:28. > :19:28.appliances and energy saving policies could save households
:19:29. > :19:39.around ?400 a year by 2020. A big chunk of that saving could
:19:40. > :19:44.come from changing the fabric of our homes. Oh, hi, Tom. How are you?
:19:45. > :19:49.Very well thank you very much. And nice and toasty. Donnachadh McCarthy
:19:50. > :19:58.is an energy saving adviser who brings his work home. My annual gas
:19:59. > :20:02.bill's around ?18 a year. ?18? A year. Right. Yeah. You've got some
:20:03. > :20:05.proof of that here, haven't you? There. ?4.29. That was over the
:20:06. > :20:10.summer. Yeah. ?8.85 over a quarter in the winter. So, how does he do
:20:11. > :20:13.it? He showed me. The most important thing I have done is solid wall
:20:14. > :20:17.insulation. So, there is a layer of that on most of these walls. Yeah,
:20:18. > :20:20.exactly. And I have put it natural wood fibre insulation two layers of
:20:21. > :20:25.this under the floorboards and then for the window I have put in triple
:20:26. > :20:29.glazing. And are you able to really see the difference of what you have
:20:30. > :20:32.done. Well, nearly all the house is insulated but there is a gap over
:20:33. > :20:36.there and the window that hasn't been insulated. So, compare that
:20:37. > :20:40.with this and I bet you will see what I'm talking about. So, I use
:20:41. > :20:43.this heat sensing gun. It gives me a temperature reading of 16.5
:20:44. > :20:48.Centigrade and a bit. You have insulated up there. Wow, 19.5! So,
:20:49. > :20:51.that is basically nearly over three degrees. That is the difference
:20:52. > :20:55.between having to have the heating on and the heating off. So, how much
:20:56. > :20:59.do you think this is all cost you? For the insulation and the wood
:21:00. > :21:02.burner and stuff like that, it has cost around ?10,000 to ?15,000. The
:21:03. > :21:06.Government's flagship energy saving policy - the Green Deal - takes the
:21:07. > :21:10.same logic. I think over the next two, three years, next five years,
:21:11. > :21:13.the next ten years, we are going to dramatically transform Britain's
:21:14. > :21:16.housing stock. The cost of work upfront offset by savings in the
:21:17. > :21:21.bill and a loan scheme to finance them. But the Government admits only
:21:22. > :21:34.219 households have so far had all the work done. The green deal's been
:21:35. > :21:37.a nightmare, a complete disaster. We've gone from hundreds of
:21:38. > :21:41.thousands of homes to almost no homes being insulated. Now I have to
:21:42. > :21:44.actually get a guy to come and inspect my house, produce a report,
:21:45. > :21:48.say what measures will pay money, say what won't. I then have to go to
:21:49. > :21:52.a different supplier to install those and then have to go to my
:21:53. > :21:56.electricity company and then that cost will go on my bill to be paid
:21:57. > :21:59.off over ten or 15 years. That's incredibly complex and it's
:22:00. > :22:03.expensive. The Green Deal has been a failure, hasn't it? Time to put it
:22:04. > :22:06.out of its misery. Well, the Green Deal finance take-up hasn't been as
:22:07. > :22:10.strong as we'd hoped and an awful lot. Understatement of the week that
:22:11. > :22:14.one. Ah, but that's for the finance plans. An awful lot of assessments
:22:15. > :22:16.have been done and an awful lot of people have realised now what
:22:17. > :22:20.improvements they could make to their homes. Quite a lot of them
:22:21. > :22:23.have got on with it anyway, spending their own money on it. The
:22:24. > :22:27.Government is revamping the Green Deal but what about the option of
:22:28. > :22:31.not just insulating our homes but ourselves. When it gets a little
:22:32. > :22:34.cold in your house, do you put a vest on or do you turn the
:22:35. > :22:37.thermostat up? Well, this is a subject of active policy debate in
:22:38. > :22:42.the Walport household, where my wife likes me to put a vest on and wear a
:22:43. > :22:45.jumper. I confess I sometimes crack and do turn the thermostat up. Oh,
:22:46. > :22:48.dear. Is that practising what you preach though, if you're turning the
:22:49. > :22:52.thermostat up? Shouldn't you...? No, I think what it shows is to be
:22:53. > :22:56.serious for a moment it shows the very serious behavioural issues,
:22:57. > :22:59.which is how do we persuade not only Walport household but all households
:23:00. > :23:02.that actually we have got to adopt the tactics that will reduce our
:23:03. > :23:05.energy demand. But the Government senses a game-changer. The new buzz
:23:06. > :23:09.is not about using less energy, it is about finding more. On this site,
:23:10. > :23:13.they are preparing the ground for what some see as the great hope for
:23:14. > :23:16.the future of Britain's energy supply. Others though, as you can
:23:17. > :23:21.tell by this security, are not so keen. What lies beneath here is
:23:22. > :23:26.gas-bearing shale rock. The idea is to fracture it using high pressure
:23:27. > :23:31.liquid - that's fracking. And near Salford, IGas have just drilled an
:23:32. > :23:32.exploratory well. If the geology's right, and permits are granted,
:23:33. > :23:41.fracking could well follow. What depth do you actually hope to
:23:42. > :23:44.hit the shale? We should be encountering shales and some coals
:23:45. > :23:49.on the way through from about 4,000 feet onwards down to 10,000 feet.
:23:50. > :23:53.There could be a significant amount of shale, what it means is that you
:23:54. > :23:57.can potentially recover an awful lot of gas from a single site like this
:23:58. > :24:00.if that shale section is that thick and you can make it flow. A 100
:24:01. > :24:05.sites across the country of this kind of size with ten wells on each
:24:06. > :24:10.could supply half of the gas that the country requires. But that comes
:24:11. > :24:15.at the price of thousands of lorry movements and fears over gas, water
:24:16. > :24:18.and chemical leakage. We are very confident and the Environment Agency
:24:19. > :24:22.and the Health and Safety Executive with independent examiners that come
:24:23. > :24:25.and check that we are doing what we say we are doing in our plans. So,
:24:26. > :24:28.are you confident that fracking fluid and methane aren't going to
:24:29. > :24:32.seep out into surrounding waters? Absolutely. It is definitely not
:24:33. > :24:38.going to happen? It is definitely not going to happen. Frack free
:24:39. > :24:41.planet, frack free planet. But many people don't share that confidence
:24:42. > :24:48.and fury greeted the start of drilling here. Do not talk to me. A
:24:49. > :24:54.few days later, the mood was quiet but the conviction still strong. It
:24:55. > :24:57.is incredibly dangerous and it is driven by greed. There is no
:24:58. > :25:01.regulation. Forget it. No jobs, no cheap energy, this is not coming
:25:02. > :25:04.from fracking. We have to bring down this whole society living on an
:25:05. > :25:08.addiction to fossil fuels and change to an addiction to renewables and it
:25:09. > :25:17.can be done, because we are British and can do anything if we try. But
:25:18. > :25:19.the Government's top scientific adviser, who passionately believes
:25:20. > :25:26.we should be fighting climate change, thinks shale gas could help.
:25:27. > :25:33.Shale gas is a fossil fuel but it's a fossil fuel and omits much less
:25:34. > :25:39.carbon dioxide than coal. It's a better fuel. So, yes, on the way, as
:25:40. > :25:42.part of a fuel mix to a low carbon future, it's a sensible thing to do.
:25:43. > :25:45.Some environmentalists would be a little bit horrified by hearing you
:25:46. > :25:49.say that. They'd say we've got to keep all that carbon locked up in
:25:50. > :25:53.the ground? But you have to look at the evidence and the answer is that
:25:54. > :25:56.it is a journey that we're on, we can't switch overnight from our
:25:57. > :25:59.dependents on fossil fuel to renewable energies. While the
:26:00. > :26:02.environmental impact of shale gas is disputed one economic effect is
:26:03. > :26:07.clear, in America energy costs have fallen after a fracking bonanza.
:26:08. > :26:11.Could that happen here with the help of recent tax breaks? The Government
:26:12. > :26:14.is keen. We could see prices fall quite dramatically if it can be
:26:15. > :26:20.extracted as easily as it's been extracted in the US. We now know
:26:21. > :26:23.there is a lot more shale underneath us than we thought. But, unlike
:26:24. > :26:26.America, gas used here follows the world price and few experts believe
:26:27. > :26:33.our discoveries would be big enough to force down prices. And certainly
:26:34. > :26:38.not a local opponent who also works in the oil and gas business. The
:26:39. > :26:41.price of gas is not going to fall because the demand will still be
:26:42. > :26:45.outstripping supply in any one year that shale gas is operating. So it's
:26:46. > :26:49.a false economy, it's a false hope that you're giving people, it's
:26:50. > :26:52.wrong to do that. It's a massive diversion from renewables, at the
:26:53. > :27:00.end of the day the only long term solution in the UK will be renewable
:27:01. > :27:03.energy. Back in Blackpool, it is all change as Josh Leyden's home and his
:27:04. > :27:04.DIY insulation will soon be demolished and replaced with an
:27:05. > :27:17.energy efficient flat. The big energy suppliers want to
:27:18. > :27:20.shift the debate from their profits to government-imposed levies that
:27:21. > :27:27.pay for the costs of combating climate change. They want more of
:27:28. > :27:32.them to come off bills and into taxes. But we face conflicting
:27:33. > :27:35.priorities. Until now, we've maybe been too focused on security of
:27:36. > :27:39.supply and CO2 reduction without really thinking about the impact on
:27:40. > :27:43.consumers. So look I think we need to move to a lower carbon economy
:27:44. > :27:47.but we have to do it in a way that consumers can afford. Does that mean
:27:48. > :27:51.we have to slow it down? I think ultimately we may have to slow it
:27:52. > :28:00.down. In order to make a better future in 50 years' time, we need to
:28:01. > :28:03.act today. We have no excuse. We have the science, we have the
:28:04. > :28:09.economics, and we know that the consequences are not in 50 years
:28:10. > :28:15.time. By 50 years' time, the consequences will be irreversible.
:28:16. > :29:03.So, is there