Peter Jackson column

Aug 10 2006 By Peter Jackson, The Journal

MPs are calling for increased taxes on flights and for higher duties on petrol to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Interestingly, left wing politicians seem most indifferent that such measures have greatest impact on the least well-off.

And, while it may be argued that air travel is a luxury the poor should have no business with, driving cars is a necessity for anyone who wants to go to work or to the shops.

The proposal that gas-guzzling 4x4s, beloved by the country folk of Gosforth and Jesmond, should be hit by a road tax of up to £1,800 might seem more egalitarian, until you remember it will also hit the genuine - and not particularly well-off - rustic, who really does need a Land Rover.

"It's the rich wot gets the pleasure and the poor wot gets the blame" could become a ruling principle in the fight to save our planet.

But, while the poorest are the hardest hit by steps to discourage energy consumption, they are also the least able to take positive green measures - and that might be to their advantage.

David Cameron's famous wind turbine, for example, is apparently going to cost him £2,500, but will only cover 10% of his total energy bills - not the kind of payback families of more modest means will feel comfortable with.

Similarly, solar panels, now for sale in the high street, cost £1,000 each. An installed system that would halve the bill of a typical three-bedroom home costs a cool £9,000.

The Energy Saving Trust, which administers Government grants, estimates that a system for an average house would cost between £8,000 and £18,000 and bring annual savings of £75 to £125, which seems to me to be even worse value than David Cameron's turbine.

However, I'm confident that here, as in any unequal society, the affluent will do the spadework for the rest of us and bring the prices down.

One of the benefits of inequality is that the better-off pioneer the expensive and initially inefficient technologies until teething problems are ironed out and production is geared up to take advantage of economies of scale.

This applied to everything from inoculation, to the motor car to colour TV, and there's no reason to think it won't apply to solar panels.