Green economy and engineering skills given thumbs up in new research

The survey, conducted by Populus and sponsored by technical communications company CadenceFisher, also found that most believe that teaching skills for industry should be prioritised over all others. Further key findings in the survey, which was conducted among 2008 adults were that three in four UK adults believed that renewable energy is the future for the planet and will be important to the global economy of the future. They would like to see government initiatives to support the renewables industry including investment plans and tax breaks. However, more than one in four said that the reality is that the UK will not be able to keep up and government support is better used in traditional industry such as automobiles. Nearly half said they would like to see the government invest in a new generation of nuclear power; this figure is nearly two thirds of men versus one in three women. Two in three people surveyed said that Britain should be leading the way on green manufacturing. It was thought that science, engineering and technology (SET) skills should be given greater priority than any others in schools and colleges according to six in ten adults but significantly, this comprises 69% of men compared to 52% of women. Younger people are less convinced that SET skills should be given greater priority than others with just under half of 18-24 year olds agreed with this strategy. The full report and copies of previous studies is available online.