Conservative voters want more renewable energy to bring down household bills
New polling, commissioned by climate charity Possible and conducted by Omnisis, ahead of this week’s Budget has revealed that the public is clamouring for more government action on household bills, and that they see renewables as one of the key means of bringing down energy costs.
Nearly half of those polled (49%) said that they wanted to see “more renewable energy projects like onshore wind and solar” to tackle energy costs, rising to a clear majority of people who said they intend to vote Conservative in the next election (58%).
By contrast, only 20% of people wanted to see gas storage facilities reopened, and just 15% backed fracking, demonstrating a clear desire to move away from fossil fuels towards cleaner sources of energy to tackle high energy costs.
A huge 77% of those polled agreed that the government should take the public’s views on how we generate our energy into account when deciding which types of energy project are allowed, and 75% agreed that the cost of energy should be a factor in the decision on whether to allow new onshore wind.
Onshore wind projects have had a uniquely restrictive planning system imposed on them since 2015 when new wind projects were virtually banned in England. For years people concerned about the climate crisis have been trying to get the government to unblock onshore wind. With the energy crisis escalating in 2022, there were renewed calls for such action in order to help bring down energy prices and insulate the UK from volatile gas markets.
In December 2022 it was announced that there would be a consultation on onshore wind to review how local authorities could demonstrate local support for projects. However, once it was launched, it was clear that the suggested changes within the consultation were incredibly weak, and would not actually allow new onshore wind projects to come forwards in England.
The Budget is expected to announce investment of £20bn into technologies including carbon capture and storage (CCS) on gas power and small modular nuclear reactors, both of which are hugely expensive, at an early stage of development, unproven commercially, and involve much greater risk levels than clean, cheap, secure and proven wind and solar power. Investing in CCS will lock us into gas infrastructure at a high cost compared to renewables, and we will be very unlikely to achieve 100% capture and storage of emissions from gas power stations.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at climate charity Possible said:
“It’s March but most of us are still reaching for our blankets and hot water bottles. So it’s little surprise that bringing down bills remains a top priority for the public. One of the quickest ways to bring down the cost of energy would be to lift the ban on onshore wind, a source of power that was up to nine times cheaper than gas power last year. As the Chancellor prepares his Budget, he should listen to the public calling for more support on household bills, and his own voters who know that renewables are the key to cleaner, cheaper energy, not funnelling billions into unproven technologies that lock in our reliance on expensive fossil fuels.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
For the polling results and consultation response document please click HERE.
Omnisis polled 1,284 people on 2nd March 2023. Results were weighted to be representative of the GB population.
For media enquiries and further information please contact press@wearepossible.org or 07806431577.
Alethea Warrington, senior campaigner at climate charity Possible, is available for comment. Please contact press@wearepossible.org for more information.
Possible is a UK-based charity that brings people together to take positive, practical action on climate change. Combining individual and local actions with larger systemic change, we connect people with each other, and communities with ways to address the climate crisis. wearepossible.org.