The energy review released today, has understandably captured the headlines with a return to Nuclear. This is no great surprise and in truth it would have been irresponsible for any government to rule nuclear out. It is still unclear as to how nuclear will be funded and the costs are still unclear, but expect news on this growth imminently. There are a number of other iniatives which have been talked about:

• Saving Energy- this is in more efficient homes, but also laws to cut down wastage from products put on standby. Educating the public will be part of this as well as the introduction of smart metering.
• Emissions Trading- this is a core part of the review and plans for phase III should be underway soon, with high polluting generators being punished, (this does not square with keeping the lights on but no doubt in ten years time the current DTi Secretary will be Prime Minister!)
• More energy will have to be provided from renewables (growth from 15% to 20%) and studies into tidal power in the Severn Estuary will commence in the next year.

There is no doubt that much of the review had been leaked or talked about before, and although the government is encouraging the growth of nuclear it will be funded privately and this may be a huge stumbling block, as 50 year power deals from banks do not exist.