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UK to Name and Shame Polluting Public Buildings |
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| UK: March 30, 2007 | ||
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LONDON - Energy-hungry public buildings across Britain will be named and shamed from next spring under government plans to expose big emitters of carbon dioxide.
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From April 2008 museums, galleries and government offices will be rated according to their energy consumption and carbon emissions -- like fridge ratings -- and have to display them, the government said on Thursday. The aim is to encourage energy improvements to public buildings by exposing the most wasteful environmental offenders. "More than 40 percent of carbon emissions in the UK come from buildings," Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said. "From the local library to the House of Commons, the public sector must do its bit to cut carbon emissions." The UK plan was unveiled on the day that the government admitted that British carbon emissions rose last year, largely because of a switch from gas to coal fired power generation. It also comes as the United Nations said better architecture and energy savings in buildings could do more to fight global warming than all the curbs on greenhouse gases agreed under the UN's Kyoto Protocol. Better use of concrete, metals and timber in construction and less use of energy for everything from air conditioners to lighting in homes and offices could save billions of dollars in a sector accounting for 30-40 percent of world energy use. "Buildings can play a key role in combating climate change," the UN Environment Programme said in a report issued in Oslo on Thursday.
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REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
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