The paper will look at the scarcity of energy supply, at environmental issues such as climate change and will address "economic competitiveness" to ensure British energy firms can compete against rivals across the world.

The paper will also seek to ensure that everyone has access to heating and lighting, which basically entails dealing with the problem of old, dark, damp houses, Hewitt said. The paper will also look at the role of nuclear power, she said, without going into details.

The nuclear industry shot to the top of the political agenda earlier this year when privatised nuclear firm British Energy Plc (BGY.L) went to the government for a loan to keep it from going bust. A government-backed restructuring plan is being fiercely contested by anti-nuclear groups.

"It's really looking 50 years ahead, but particularly 20 years ahead because that is the timespan one has to look at with energy," Hewitt told reporters at a lunch event.

In May, the government launched a prolonged consultation process over its energy strategy with a view to publishing a White Paper. A White Paper can later be drafted into a bill to pass through parliament into law.

A government-commissioned report, released in February, said Britain should raise its target for energy supplied by renewable sources to 20 percent by 2020 but also keep open the option to invest anew in nuclear power.

Then, Energy minister Brian Wilson signalled support for the conclusions of the Performance and Innovation Unit, a thinktank set up by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

That unit suggested that the government should set overall domestic targets for a 20 percent improvement in energy efficiency by 2010 and a further 20 percent over the following decade.

The government's existing target is for 10 percent of Britain's energy supplies to come from sources such as wind and solar power by 2010.

Hewitt said the environmental side of the paper would look beyond the Kyoto protocol "at what our climate change targets ought to be and how we create an energy policy and market that will actually deliver on...climate change but other environmental goals too.