Darren Johnson will challenge London’s Mayor to reject the government’s pursuit of new nuclear power and invest instead in a more efficient and less polluting system of decentralised renewable energy for the capital.
Following the government’s go-ahead for four new nuclear reactors as part of a £12.5m takeover deal of the UK nuclear energy company by EDF and Centrica, Darren said:
"A decentralised renewable energy system in London would generate as much electricity and heat as three nuclear power stations and cut carbon emissions by 27%. Against this, even doubling of the UK’s current nuclear capacity would only make an 8% cut to greenhouse gases."
"Providing decentralised energy in London would cost between £3bn and £4.4bn – much cheaper than new nuclear power stations which cost around £3bn each for much less energy."
"It is clear that the cheapest and most effective way of cutting emissions in London would be to decentralise energy production and put solar panels and wind turbines on every house and office. I will ask the mayor to pay close attention to these facts when he draws up plans to cut London’s CO2 emissions by 60% by 2025."