Business
Soap Box - should Government appoint an energy minister?
Last week the British Plastics Federation called on the Government to put energy security at the top of its agenda and appoint an energy minister to the cabinet.
With the packaging industry suffering from huge increases in oil and gas prices, we want to know the sector’s views on how Gordon Brown should act to protect and promote UK interests in the energy markets.
Is the BPF right to ask for an energy minister? Should we be developing more nuclear power? And what should packaging firms be doing to reduce their exposure to volatile energy pricing?
Log in, either under your own name or a pseudonym, and let us know your opinions. We'll be publishing a write-up of the sector's views on Friday's Daily Bulletin and may use some of the comments in October's Packaging News magazine.
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Comments
James Smith - 03 September 2008
I fully support the BPF's line on this. Energy security is a massive issue and with all the problems in Russia and a very ageing power network in this country we should all be worried about this. We're all trying to put our prices up because of this very problem. In the words of the New Orleans mayor - "we've got to get our butts moving because this is the storm of the century". Or words to that effect, anyway...
Pack Man - 03 September 2008
Do we need to focus on the energy issue? Yes.
As a sector we need the government to be understand what the problems are, what needs to be done, and discuss the best solutions, whether it's nuclear, green, coal...
Do we need another minister in the cabinet? I'm not sure.
BERR already has an energy minister, Malcolm Wicks. I'm not sure whether his presence in the cabinet would do anything apart from allow the PM to say 'see, we are taking energy seriously'.
We need a better cabinet, not necessarily a bigger one.
Design Diva - 03 September 2008
Oil prices are not going to go down so all that companies can do is reduce their dependence on oil. I applaud Waitrose, which is trialling generating energy from food waste using anaerobic digestion. I think more initiatives like this are necessary if UK companies are to survive soaring oil prices. If an energy minister is appointed, I think their first job should be to invest in energy from waste. We need the energy and we don't want to send stuff to landfill - it seems like the perfect solution!
Julie Elliott - 03 September 2008
I don't see that having an energy minister will make any difference to the price of oil, gas and electricity. But I do think we need to think about alternative forms of supply, especially energy from waste. There are still many arguments against the dangers of nuclear power, especially after Chernobyl, and I'm not sure I would like a nuclear plant anywhere near my home.
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