30 May 2006Brian Lysaght
London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the U.K. capital will aim to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, a contributor to global warming, by 15 percent by 2010 and encourage developers to use more renewable energy in a bid to make the city more environmentally friendly.
``These are targets that we can reach,'' said Livingstone in a news conference today. ``We must move our cities away from relying on inefficient centralized heat and power generation and stop constructing buildings that waste heat and electricity.''
The carbon-dioxide reduction goals are the first for the city of 7.3 million residents. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that's emitted by heating systems, cars and power stations. Livingstone said he wants to encourage residents to make their homes more energy efficient by increasing insulation.
The mayor also said he ``would like to see'' the U.K. government offer council-tax reductions for homeowners who embrace energy efficiency.
Livingstone will encourage builders to create developments that get 20 percent of their energy from local and renewable sources such as wind power rather than from central power systems.
The proposals are contained in the mayor's most recent London Plan, a document that sets out the city's policy goals. It must be reviewed by the Greater London Assembly and community groups. The assembly's Conservatives were skeptical about some of the proposals.
``Making an existing home environmentally friendly may run into several thousand pounds and it is unlikely that most Londoners will be able to do it,'' Tony Arbour, a spokesman on planning for the assembly's Conservatives, said in an e-mailed statement.
To contact the reporter on this story:Brian Lysaght in London at [email protected]
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