The UK's Liberal Democrats party has declared that greater efficiency and local power generation are needed to help reduce electricity wastage and cut CO2 emissions in the UK.

The Liberal Democrats political party aims to influence a change in the way electricity is generated in Britain in order to reduce waste and cut CO2 emissions. One change the political party proposes is to move towards sustainable local power generation. The parliamentary group pointed out that more than 60% of electricity is currently lost in transit between large power stations and the end user, with a further 20% then lost through inefficiency within customers’ homes and business premises.

Initiatives to increase efficiency within homes and businesses are needed, the Liberal Democrats claim, to curb wasteful activities such as leaving appliances on in standby mode. Recent research from Moneysupermarket.com showed that this activity alone costs the UK GBP246 million in electricity per year.

Our current electricity system is so inefficient that two-thirds of the energy in the fuel is wasted through losses in production and transmission even before it gets used at homes and workplaces, explained Liberal Democrat shadow environment secretary, Chris Huhne MP.

We must also curb our appetite for power. There is a 1.5 % a year increase in electricity demand, and a fifth of all electricity generated is wasted in our homes by things like inefficient light bulbs, standby power systems and poor insulation, he continued. Regulation and green taxation each have their role in curbing consumption in the domestic sector, but tackling energy inefficiency in industry and business presents a different set of problems.