LONDON (AFX) - A major UK government-funded study has warned that the political spinning of energy-efficient technologies such as wind turbines has created 'a substantial gap between rhetoric and reality', which could damage future development.

Scientists from the Universities of Sussex, Southampton and Imperial College London said that despite the growth in the profile of micro-generation technologies such as wind turbines -- enthusiastically championed by David Cameron and Sir Menzies Campbell -- the barriers towards implementation on a national scale are still huge.

The research, led by Dr Jim Watson at the Sussex Energy Group and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, found that policy makers were still not doing enough to promote micro-generation- technologies that allow households to generate their own electricity.

The scientists denounced the lack of a 'level playing field' for investments in micro-generation, with large companies getting tax breaks for investing in power plants and energy saving, while householders do not.

They also said that the current structure of the energy market discriminates against those that have bothered to install micro-generation plants. Households should be able to sell excess energy generated by their turbines back to the National Grid, but at the moment there is no proper structure to sell the surplus power.

The study calls for policy changes to make it much easier to introduce 'smart meters', which judge how much energy a household is using and therefore wasting.

'Current policies to support micro-generation are welcome but they are piecemeal and hesitant,' Dr Watson said. 'Public interest in micro-generation presents an ideal opportunity for more fundamental changes to energy policy that take individual actions seriously. Action across the board by government agencies such as the Treasury
and the energy regulator Ofgem would send a powerful signal that matches the political rhetoric.'

The researchers said in a statement that 'the gap between rhetoric and reality is in danger of breeding frustration and cynicism, and actively damaging the future of micro-generation'.