Lord Deben:

We are rolling it out quite rapidly. There are always arguments about it as to whether we have the right kind. One of the problems with smart metering is that when we started to have laptops, some people never got one because there was always going to be one that would be better one than the one they were going to buy and they could not settle on any one in the end. There is a problem like it with smart metering technology. We are, however, using it and there is a lot of other technology available. Ireland has been wonderful because it has invented this fantastic system where one keeps the chickens and then collects the manure to produce the energy for the next lot of chickens. One uses only approximately 50% of the energy, with the remaining 50% being put back into the grid. It is an Irish invention. Before I joined the climate change committee, we did some work for them which we would not be able to do now. I am enthusiastic about these initiatives. Very often it is these exciting things, if they come out of left field in technology, that really impress. There is a man who has just done some work on the issue of turbulence, for example, and shown how one can now be 60% more accurate in the case of an aeroplane. This means that it does not have to move so far when it wants to escape turbulence as one knows where it is. As a result, the amount of energy and fuel used by the aeroplane is reduced and it does not have to fly excessively high because one knows precisely where there is turbulence. It is a fantastic piece of technology which is not on the list of things to reduce emissions from aeroplanes.

Very ofteurn it is these exciting