The green police are coming....

This story is from the UK...

Professor Michael Kelly, a Cambridge University academic who is currently Chief Scientific Adviser to the Department for Communities and Local Government, said householders should be too afraid of public opinion be seen wasting electricity by leaving the windows open with the heating on or using air conditioning when it is not necessary.

His comments come after Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, suggested opposing wind farms should be as unacceptable as failing to wear a seat belt and Richard Dixon, the Head of the World Wildlife Fund in Scotland, said people who leave waste energy should be treated as criminals.

In the first carbon budget to be set in the world, the Chancellor announced earlier this week that the UK is committed to cutting carbon emissions by 34 per cent by 2020. A large proportion of the cuts will have to come through consumers using less energy at home and work.

However Prof Kelly, who is currently advising the Government on the best way to reduce carbon emissions from buildings, said the UK will struggle to meet the legally-binding targets unless there is a cultural change.

"If we do not get to the stage where energy profligacy is as anti-social as smoking in public places, drink driving or driving without a seat belt then all of this [meeting the climate change targets] is under threat," he said.