JANE WILDBLOOD,
Campaign Director

When most politicians went to school, oil was the fuel of the present, and nuclear the fuel of the future. Now nuclear is dying and there is not too little oil but too much.

Many people still wrongly think about renewable energy technologies as "for tomorrow".

They could not be more wrong.

In countries such as Japan, solar power is rapidly becoming the technology of today.

In Britain, there are two grid-connected homes producing solar electricity. It is clean, does not pollute, it works and some panels are even made by BP Solar, BP's tiny solar subsidiary.

In Japan, they plan to build seventy thousand such homes by 2005.

Why ? because Japan does not want to depend on oil in the future, and because Japan wants to dominate the coming global market in solar technology. So the Japanese Government gives homeowners grants to install solar on their roofs.

If you want a grant - move to Japan.

Or maybe Germany where they do it too.

Or possibly the US - but in Britain - forget it.

British politicians still seem to think that solar technology won't work in Britain. It does. It works all year round, in summer and in winter, even in the rain.

Last year Greenpeace toured Britain's high streets with this solar powered kitchen - because we knew from research that people think solar will power light bulbs but don't realise it can do really hard work, like powering a washing machine.

Susan Roaf's house in Oxford is entirely solar powered. When she has a surplus her electricity meter runs backwards and sells it into the grid. It even runs her electric car.

Greenpeace has challenged all Britain's political parties to divert just seventeen million pounds from the existing Dti budget which goes to subsidising fossil fuels, into a solar programme to give grants for fifty thousand homes.

According to the UK's small solar companies this sort of investment would trigger private funding (from them) which would lead to the creation of forty thousand new jobs - that's forty thousand new British jobs in manufacturing and installation which would help the environment, the economy and the country.

People accuse environmentalists of not seeking solutions: in reality it is Government and industry which has the power to bring in environmental solutions.

We are doing our best. We are on tour again this year with our mobile solar powered kitchen, this time to shows and events to reach over one million people.

We are working with housing associations, local authorities, builders and others to get solar installed on real homes. But we are tiny - BP spends more in just two hours than the whole of Greenpeace UK does in a whole year ! And it spends it on the problem, not the solution.

Of course solar is not the only answer. But it is a big part of the answer.

Costs have fallen five fold since 1982. They are forecast to fall more - three fold by the end of the century. Be like Japan and push up production, and the economies of scale will bring costs down further. Already it is cost effective off grid.

We will shortly publish a survey of the scope for energy conservation and renewables in the UK. Solar could replace two thirds of British electricity production. Energy conservation could eliminate thirty percent of all UK carbon dioxide emissions and save money doing it.

And, of course, here in Scotland, you have one of the best wind and wave resources in Europe, as well as untapped solar potential.

This car, re-engineered from a Renault Twingo by Greenpeace, does over eighty miles to the gallon while the original did only forty. If such steps were taken, then phasing out fossil fuels would not seem such an impossibility.

As Tony Blair would say, "practical measures for high moral reasons". But, unfortunately, by Greenpeace and not as yet, by the Government or by industry.

Labour has talked about support for solar energy, and we await signs of action with eager anticipation.

The DoE built new offices and refused to install solar electricity - so we did it for them in March. John Gummer then said he'd be announcing a major new initiative on solar, once the election was over, and that he'd get back to us once he was back in his office. Unfortunately I think we can't afford to wait that long.

I hope that now John Prescott has arrived at the DoE, we will see more action from them.