BSRIA has issued a response to the recent publication of the Government’s Infrastructure Plan and Autumn Statement.

It points out that energy remains high on the agenda, with the Government identifying three objectives: to ensure power, heat and transport are affordable for households and businesses; to provide energy security to facilitate day to day activities and support economic growth; and to reduce carbon emissions in order to mitigate climate change and meet its legally binding targets.

BSRIA says that it is difficult to accurately predict, due to the existing legislation energy demand is expected to have a downward trend until at least 2025. However, with an ageing energy infrastructure it is estimated that there will need to be an investment of around £100bn by 2020 to upgrade energy generation plants. As the current coal, gas and nuclear power stations come off line they will be replaced by a combination of renewable energy, new nuclear power and fossil fuel power stations fitted with carbon capture and storage technology.

There will remain a need for gas powered generation plants to provide back up for the potential irregular renewable supply and to meet peak demand, BSRIA points out.

BSRIA chief executive Julia Evans (pictured) said: “Meeting our energy generation needs whilst we ensure security of supply is vitally important. BSRIA is fully supportive of the use of new technology to deliver energy output. However there is also a significant opportunity for greater energy efficiency from improvements in building fabric, using better controls and more efficient equipment like variable speed drives, induction motors and variable speed pumps.”

Announced in the Autumn Statement the Government will be allocating £25m of funding in 2015-16 for first time heating systems in off-gas-grid homes.

Ms Evans added: “With the wide range of technologies available cold homes should be a thing of the past. BSRIA is very supportive of this initiative but would also say that heating a property is only a part of the issue. It has to be done efficiently, so we strongly encourage the Government to ensure that the suitable measures are in place to ensure that this is the case.”