In his first major speech on climate change David Cameron will outline Conservative plans to replace Labour's Climate Change Levy with a new, more effective and better targeted Carbon Levy.

Energy group E.ON is leading calls for the Government to give tax breaks to people who have installed insulation and double glazing in their homes.

Suppliers of mini-wind turbines and solar panels for the home have reported falls of up to 90 per cent in customer enquiries after the Government cut subsidies in May. While Energy minister Malcolm Wicks and Conservative leader David Cameron struggle with the vagaries of the UK's planning system (see below) to get their wind turbines erected, fewer ordinary households are now even bothering to apply.

Britain's booming wind farm industry is grinding to a halt because a lucrative tax break in America is fuelling massive demand for new wind installations across the Atlantic.

The Westminster government has been accused of putting the development of green energy at risk, by shelving plans to subsidise projects in the Scottish islands. It means companies setting up renewable energy schemes in Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles face paying up to 40 per cent of their annual turnover on crippling transmission charges. The government had planned to bring in a "cap" on the charges to make sure the renewables industry was not put off from developing in these key locations.

Members of a group campaigning against a windfarm are urging people to sign a petition calling on Tony Blair to withdraw subsidies for onshore turbine developments in “valued landscapes”. Members of Den Brook Valley Action Group (DBVAG), which has been fighting plans to build nine 394ft tall wind turbines in the valley between North Tawton and Bow, are awaiting the outcome of a public inquiry into the plan, which was held in November. In the meantime, the group is calling on people to sign an online petition set up by anti-windfarm campaigner Bill Short, from the North of England.

The large subsidies paid by British electricity consumers to fund the drive towards wind power are generating sizeable profits for existing wind farm owners without producing many new turbines. The UK needs a massive expansion of wind energy to meet government climate change targets, and the amount of subsidy paid to renewable electricity generators through consumers' electricity bills will rise from more than £600m ($1.2bn, €800m) a year to £3bn a year by 2020. But the format of the subsidy system, known as the renewables obligation (RO), combined with bottlenecks in the planning system, mean these cash injections are simply enriching the operators of existing wind farms well beyond their expectations. "The RO is a very expensive way of providing support for renewables," said Andrew Wright, managing director of markets at Ofgem, the electricity regulator.

Britain has dropped resistance to a mandatory European Union target of drawing 20 percent of power from renewable sources by 2020 and expects EU leaders to set that goal next week, a British official said on Wednesday. Britain was one of several countries, including prominently France, which opposed making legally binding the objective for low-polluting energy sources such as solar and wind power when EU energy ministers debated the issue on February 15.

Gordon Brown will unveil tax breaks for households generating their own green energy as he uses his eleventh budget to challenge the environmental credentials of David Cameron's Conservatives by proposing incentives to tackle climate change. Whitehall sources said last night that Mr Brown is likely to encourage people to install solar panels, wind turbines and other carbon-free sources of energy in their homes by exempting from income tax any money made by selling excess power back to the national grid.

Consumer groups last night called for action to be taken against Britain's household energy suppliers who make misleading and confusing environmental claims. Companies such as British Gas, ScottishPower, and Scottish and Southern Energy entice customers to sign up to their services by claiming that, by paying or agreeing to "a green tariff", they are giving something back to the environment. In return for signing up to a "green tariff" energy plan, the supplier will either plant a tree or obtain energy from renewable sources. In some cases the tariffs cost nothing, but in other cases there can be a £10 to £20 a year surcharge. The National Consumer Council (NCC) and the consumer watchdog, energywatch, called on Britain's household energy suppliers to be more honest and upfront about their green tariff plans. They have also called on the government and energy service regulatory body Ofgem (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) to make sure all their environmental claims are independently audited.

David Miliband, the Environment Secretary, was accused yesterday of running a “brazen” spin operation, after it emerged that his promise of more money for clean energy sources will mean less money for energy-saving projects. At last month’s Labour conference Mr Miliband announced he was putting £10m into a programme run by the Carbon Trust, a private company established four years ago to involve businesses in fighting global warming. The grant will be used to get private companies to build wind turbines to generate power. He forecast that the scheme would generate enough electricity to supply 250,000 houses. A footnote to an accompanying press release from the Environment Department (Defra), however, reveals that the money has come out of the £20m allocated to Defra in the Budget in March - money that was to be invested in energy-saving measures.

Mr Rigden, editor of ReNews newsletter, said offshore wind was likely to be “an industry for the next decade rather than this one”.

The National Consumer Council and the consumer watchdog, energywatch, today call on Britain’s household energy suppliers to be more honest and upfront about their ‘green’ tariffs – and to spell out clearly what the environmental benefits really are. The call comes as NCC publishes an investigation into the environmental credentials of green tariffs on offer in this country. NCC’s research shows that while many consumers say they’re happy to pay a premium for green energy, most green tariffs don’t live up to the environmental benefits claimed.

Britain's energy consumers are prepared to meet some of the costs of curbing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, but are worried they may be forced to assume too large a burden.

Plans for a wind farm on mountains north of Swansea have been attacked as “a major scam” by a city councillor.Ioan Richard, who represents the Mawr ward on the council, has hit out at subsidies paid to wind farms. He says the project, which he estimates will cost £80 million, will receive £110 million income over 20 years at today’s figures. “The Renewable Energy Subsidy will be £236 million from the general public who do not want this ugly scam,” said Councillor Richard. “After 20 years the turbines will be scrap - but who is laughing all the way to the bank? “These figures have all been verified at today’s rates as a major scam. “It’s high time you, the general public, sat up and realised the folly of it at your expense,” he added.

A windfarm action group has shot a warning across the bows of government calling for more support for renewable energy. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) welcomes the government’s intention to switch to the greener ways of generating energy, but claims that sums will not add up unless financial support is increased. The warning headlines the environmental group’s response to the government’s consultation, which proposes a significant change to the Renewables Obligation (RO), the support mechanism for renewable power in the UK.

The European Union should adopt binding energy savings targets and look into launching a new trading scheme to encourage businesses to use renewable energy sources, Denmark’s prime minister said on Friday. Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Reuters the 25-nation bloc, struggling to reduce rising dependency on imported gas and oil, should follow Denmark’s example as it develops a common energy policy at a time of high fuel prices and growing global demand.

Thousands of us are signing up to plans from energy suppliers that promise to provide our energy from renewable sources. But while green tariffs might ease our consciences, do they actually make any difference to the environment? Under green tariffs, energy suppliers promise to match your electricity use by putting the same amount of energy from renewable sources – mostly wind farms – back into the national grid. But environmental groups are not certain of the schemes’ green credentials. Friends of the Earth used to produce a league table of green tariffs, ranking them according to their benefit to the environment. However, it has now ceased the exercise because it says it has become impossible to accurately gauge how much good the schemes do.

Energy companies have warned the government that unless they get £2 billion in "immediate" state aid several offshore wind farms will be scrapped - and this would leave Whitehall's pollution-reduction targets in tatters. Companies have put off giving the green light to several big projects, such as the £3 billion London Array in the Thames estuary and Npower's £2.2 billion Gwint y Mor farm off the coast of Wales, until the government decides whether it will stump up more cash to offset building costs that have doubled in the past three years.

Scottish and Southern Energy has acquired Ireland's leading renewable energy giant Airtricity in a deal worth E1.46 billion. While the buyout deal is the latest in a string of 'green' corporate investments, the financial viability of the acquisition is yet to be tested, and alternative renewable resources and underlying uncertainties in the UK's energy markets could threaten wind power strategies. ...However, the financial implications of wind power expansion plans are not yet clear. The landscape of the European energy markets is changing rapidly and it is possible that wind power could be replaced by competing technologies and fuels. An obvious threat to wind power investments will be the decision on new nuclear plant builds. Wind power could also be undermined by extensive investments in alternative renewable energy sources. Furthermore, while the price and allocation of carbon permits under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme is a major driver behind wind power investments, if prices were to collapse as they did in 2007, this could spell trouble for investors and shareholders alike.