We need energy to survive but using too much of it will mean that we do not and we have got to move away from the traditional fuels which we have always used.
Governments have always had a range of policies and agendas for combating energy shortages, but now there is a different twist to the story. Even if we have enough fuel to power the world, we have to reduce our use in order to prevent man-made climate change.

Will we discover more about climate change this year and what we need to do to minimise it? Will it get cooler this year or continue as it has over the last decade, ie warm summers and mild winters? What we do know is that the rate of change has been increasing. It is easy to look back and wonder where the years have gone and ponder the chances we have missed regarding energy, but we are now tasked with looking forward and producing energy-efficient designs fit for a revised building stock model in the future.

We have seen changes with the F-gas Regulations and phasing out of harmful refrigerants. We have seen replacements for oil from growing energy crops, making bio fuels, and even used sewage to generate 250kW hours per person in the UK. We have seen recycling rates of materials increased to the point where the construction industry is proud of 93-95 per cent rates in a range of exemplar projects. All of these, and more, are going to be essential as we adapt to the shortage of virgin materials and a depletion of oil and gas resources.

I believe that levels of electrical usage need to decrease. We need to have more efficient end-use equipment and lower demands from a refurbished existing building stock. Renewable energy systems in the UK have to be geared up to providing electrical power. To achieve this, government needs to pay greater attention to the resilience of our electrical infrastructure and how to manage our demand.

In 2010, it would be nice to see some breakthroughs in technology that enable us to have much less dependence on fossil fuels. There is no one renewable that would achieve this for us, but using them all would help. I hope, for example, this year that decisions are made to utilise the available marine power off the UK coast. Let's hope that tidal stream/flow power is featured in plans to combat climate change and make it easier for buildings to meet their CO₂ targets.