a) Is the climate changing?
90% of Britons reported that they believed the climate is changing. 41% said a lot, 49% said a little. These figures are down very slightly since 2006.

b) Perceived impact on future generations
Respondents were asked to assess how much climate change would affect future generations. 85% reported that it would impact ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a lot’. This figure is down from 89% in 2006.

c) Concern about climate change
76% said they were concerned (either ‘very’ or ‘fairly’) about climate change. This figure has declined 5% since 2006.

d) Willingness to change behaviour in response to the climate change problem
About three quarters (74%) said that they ‘agreed’ or ‘agreed strongly’ with the statement ‘I would be prepared to change behaviour to help limit climate change’. The DfT survey does not give a comparable figure for 2006

e) Cutting car use for the sake of the environment
Just over half (58%) of respondents agreed with the statement that ‘individuals should try to limit car use for environmental reasons’. This figure is down 4% since 2006.

The survey also asked about the contrasting statement ‘people should be allowed to use their cars as much as they like even if [they cause] environmental damage’. 37% of people agreed with this statement, up sharply from 26% in 2006. To emphasize this point; more people said that car drivers should ignore environmental issues than said that they would not be prepared to ‘change behaviour to help limit climate change’ (point d).

f) Personal actions
The survey then asks people what they themselves would be prepared to do in the next twelve months to help limit climate change. Recycling was mentioned by about nine in ten (i.e. about the same number that said that the climate of the UK is changing) but only about a quarter mentioned restricting the number of flights that they took. Only about 10% agreed with increasing the tax on petrol (down 4% since 2006).

g) Actual behaviour
The DfT survey does not ask about what people have actually done to reduce their own responsibilities for emissions. But we know from other survey work that a relatively small number of people have taken significant and painful action on personal emissions. Most people now recycle actively and have installed low-wattage light bulbs. Only about 5-10% have decided to stop flying or not to own a car for environmental reasons.

Points a) to g) suggest the following hierarchy:

Broadly speaking, other survey results show the same numbers and also repeat the small decline in the percentages of those worried or acting on climate. But, to repeat, the very cold UK winter of 2009/2010 and the stream of revelations about the IPCC and the CRU may have pulled all these figures down further.

• The payments for renewable heat, such as the home burning of wood to replace gas or rooftop solar hot water, are much higher than predicted.
• The figures for wind have risen since the autumn consultation document. This means that well-located wind turbines of the 6-15 kW size are likely to produce returns above 13% per year.
• The payments for solar PV have been increased slightly, but do not offer returns as good as wind. Importantly, the government has also signalled that it will allow PV installed at any time over the next 28 months to capture the full feed-in tariff. Previously, the tariff declined for installations made after March 2011.

An earlier article on this topic which looks in more detail on the incentives to take up the new ‘feed-in tariffs’ is here.

Renewable heat incentive
Full details are not yet on the DECC website, but the payments for heat look surprisingly large. A wood-burning boiler will attract payments of 9p per kilowatt hour generated, or almost three times the current price of mains gas. Let’s put this another way. A tonne of very dry wood generates about 5,000 kWh of heat. So the payment for burning this tonne in an efficient stove would, we assume, be £450. Since the price of wood on the ground in southern England is no more than £60 a tonne, this incentive will transform the economics of forestry. Virtually no wood is harvested across much of Britain but landlords will now find it far more attractive to manage their holdings. My recommendation – buy woodland now. Timber is going to be worth a lot more in ten years’ time.

Payments for solar hot water installations are also much higher than expected and will undoubtedly spark a rush to put up rooftop panels. Combined with the boiler scrappage scheme, the solar hot water incentive will encourage many hundreds of thousands of homes to upgrade their heating systems.

Domestic combined heat and power systems are also heavily incentivized, as are heat pumps.

Wind
A 15 kW wind turbine – the sort of size that might sit on a small hill at the back of a village – costs about £50,000 to buy and install. (Installation costs will vary substantially, depending on the proximity of the electricity network.) The draft figures suggested a payment of about 23p per kWh but the final announcement today has increased this to over 26p. My previous calculation suggested a return of about 12% per year, but these new figures take this figure to above 13%. Confusingly, the government’s announcement suggests a figure of ’5-8%’ for the financial returns under its proposals but I believe the figures for community wind are actually much higher and will kick mutual ownership of turbines into life. A turbine of 15 kW should be an easily financeable proposition across much of the UK.

Solar
The payments for PV have been increased from the earlier proposals. The solar installation industry had been sweating nervously about the possibility of a large reduction. Today’s figures suggest that a good south-facing roof location in the English south-west will achieve financial returns of above 8%. The government may correctly have felt that the likely continued decline in the cost of solar panels will gradually improve this figure over the next few years. Surprisingly, the announcement says that the solar PV feed-in rates will last for more than two years. Previously they were slated to fall gently from April 2011. This may produce a perverse incentive. The fall in the price of solar panels – as a result of improved manufacturing techniques and the entry of huge amounts of Chinese capacity – may mean that parsimonious householders wait until 2012 to put up the panels. The government wants us to invest today.

What is it?
When pointed at a wall, a window or any other solid object, The Thermal Leak Detector detects the temperature. It compares this to the standard temperature in the room. If the place at which the device is pointed is markedly colder than the room (i.e. there is a heat leak at that point) a light shining from the detector changes colour from green to blue. This provides immediate and effective visual indication of leaks around doors, windows, and corners in the house and enables you to target your insulation efforts.

It is a handheld device, powered by a single battery. The instructions are simple and clear, making it an absolute delight to use. The Amazon.com price is about $50, but VAT, customs duties, and shipping pushed the price up to over £60 for me. Delivery was swift and efficient.

The manufacturers claim the detector can save 20% off your fuel bills. This seems a bit unlikely to me – 10% might be an achievable target – but the payback is undoubtedly very quick. Average UK heating bills this year will be over £600 and many households will face costs of £200 this month because of the unusually cold January weather. So buy it from the States if necessary and share it with your friends.

Below is a video file, shot on my mobile phone, of the device in action. I am shining the light at the front door and you can see the colour change at a point where I need to replace the draught excluder. I apologise for the poor quality of the file – click here to download it.

Black & Decker – get this into European shops as soon as you can.