My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, for introducing this group of amendments and her amendment in particular. We strongly support amendments that aim to increase renewable energy sources. This is a levelling-up Bill. One of the missions laid out in the White Paper is to increase well-being. When we think about the cost of energy at the moment, surely having well-heated homes has to be a measure of well-being in society. By supporting these amendments, we can make steps towards meeting that mission. As the noble Baroness said in the introduction to her amendment, it is simple but sensible. We completely agree.
The amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, is again really important. There is such huge potential for solar panels on commercial buildings that we completely miss. The thing that sprung to mind when I read his amendment was those colossal warehouses that can be seen along the motorways when driving along. They are in completely open space, and surely there is huge potential for putting solar panels on their roofs.
We know that, by 2050, the United Kingdom has a target to cut emissions of CO2 by 80%, but we also know that the Government are way off achieving that target. Again, as the noble Baroness said, it is really good that the Government are beginning to realise the importance and potential of solar power, following on from the Skidmore review, but as she also said, what we need is action—to make the potential of solar power a reality. If new-build homes had solar panels and the ability to store energy in batteries—which is, of course, something that we have to develop further—as a country we would clearly benefit from a fairly significant reduction in emissions of carbon dioxide. To me, it seems completely obvious: the more energy we harness from the sun, the less we need to get from fossil fuels.
Solar panels mean that, for certain parts of the year, households can enjoy being completely self-powered. This would of course bring a significant reduction to their energy bills, helping to meet that mission of well-being—yet, as the noble Baroness, Lady Hayman, said, there is no target for this yet. If you are going genuinely to deliver and make a difference, you need to set targets.
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We have also heard that it is vastly cheaper to install solar panels on a new property than it is to fit them retrospectively. They are far more expensive to fit retrospectively. Having mandatory requirements for solar panels on new homes means that installation costs are lower and that home owners can start saving money as soon as they move into their new home.
I will also make a few comments on the interesting amendments tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, on the ground source heat network. Unlike gas and oil boilers, ground source heat pumps can heat a home without emitting any carbon into the atmosphere. As the noble Baroness, Lady Sheehan, said, we cannot meet our net-zero targets unless we tackle how we heat our homes. How we heat our homes is quite a challenge.
We know that you can have solar panels for hot water, as we have. We have thermal panels on our roof and it has made a huge difference to the amount of oil we use. Living in the middle of rural Cumbria, we have an oil boiler and we have cut back hugely. Of course, we need to use the oil boiler to heat during the winter, as others who live off the gas grid use their gas boilers. We really need to think about how we can invest in renewable alternatives to our gas and oil boilers for heating. While ground source heat pumps need electricity to operate, which is a very expensive energy resource, they use it incredibly efficiently.
In conclusion, it is important that the Government start to look at how renewable energy can be driven forward, whether through solar panels or alternatives to gas and oil boilers. If there is one thing we know, it is that we cannot carry on heating our homes with fossil fuels for ever, not only because it has a negative impact on the environment but because it simply is not sustainable. We support these amendments because we really need to be making more progress.