UK households are being urged to turn thermostats down by a degree to help hurt Russia in the pocket The International Energy Agency (IEA) says just a one degree Celsius decrease will help cut Europe's reliance on Vladimir Putin's gas.
It's part of a ten-point plan of ways to bring gas imports from Russia down by a third in the wake of the attack on Ukraine.. While Britain only gets around four per cent of its gas from Russia, Europe is heavily reliant on the country’s supplies, with Germany and Austria claiming more than 50% of it from the nation, reports the Mirror.
Both countries have vowed to end that dependence this week, and the IEA said lowering the temperature by 1C would help reduce Russia's dominance in the market. It has financial benefits too. Energy experts at uSwitch suggest turning your thermostat down by just one degree could save you £80 a year on your heating bill.
The IEA also said Europe should not sign any new gas supply contracts with Russia. It added that the UK should replace Russian supplies with gas from alternative sources and accelerate the deployment of new wind and solar projects. This alone could reduce gas use by 6billion cubic metres within a year.
Further advice says Britain should maximise power generation from bioenergy and nuclear and enact short-term tax measures to shelter vulnerable electricity consumers from high prices. It goes on to encourage the faster rollout of heat pumps which would eliminate the need for gas altogether and accelerate energy efficiency improvements in buildings. The head of the IEA said that Europe needed to increase alternatives to Russian energy as soon as possible.
“Nobody is under any illusions anymore. Russia’s use of its natural gas resources as an economic and political weapon show Europe needs to act quickly to be ready to face considerable uncertainty over Russian gas supplies next winter,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.
“The IEA’s 10-Point Plan provides practical steps to cut Europe’s reliance on Russian gas imports by over a third within a year while supporting the shift to clean energy in a secure and affordable way. Europe needs to rapidly reduce the dominant role of Russia in its energy markets and ramp up the alternatives as quickly as possible.”
