Policies for a micropower future

The world over, governments are beginning to look at energy policy in the light of new pressures. Fluctuating oil and gas prices and the post-11 September political climate have highlighted the issue of energy security. The decline in the nuclear industry is creating fear of a gap in electricity generation capacity on both sides of the Atlantic, and the need to reduce GHG emissions has once again been highlighted by the Third Assessment Report of the IPCC. Whilst the US energy review went for the old-style 'predict and provide' mentality, forecasting the need for up to 1900 new large-scale power stations, there is a more innovative, cost-effective and environmentally sensitive way of tackling the problems, and CHP is at the heart of it. (author)