Half a century ago Britain's energy needs were met using the country's own natural resources. Coal, North Sea oil and gas.

Nuclear power had been added to the equation, but 90 per cent of the energy needs used to be met by burning coal.

Deep coalmines produced more than 100 million tons a year. Known reserves existed - and still exist - for at least two centuries.

Today the oil and gas are running out.

The coal reserves lie abandoned following the Tories' butchery of the coalmining industry.

Development of "green" energy is progressing at a snail's pace.

Nuclear power is becoming prohibitively expensive as successive governments flounder over how to deal with radioactive waste.

Britain is dependent on fuel supplies from abroad, including more than 40m tons of coal a year from as far afield as Australia and Russia.

But a new report from the Trades Union Congress indicates that Britain could be self-sufficient again through the rapid development of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

The issue is not new, but the report, prepared jointly with the Carbon Capture and Storage Association (CCSA), shows how it can be done - and how government action is essential.

The Economic Benefits of CCS in the UK says an ambitious roll-out of CCS technology would generate thousands of jobs, create a market worth £15-35 billion by 2030 and reduce household electricity bills by £82 a year.

Key findings from the report include:

• CCS can play a vital role in helping Britain meet its statutory target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. It has been estimated that without CCS, the cost of meeting this target will rise by £30-40bn per year
• Inclusion of CCS in the mix of low-carbon technologies would result in a 15 per cent reduction in wholesale electricity prices - leading to an average cut in household bills of £82 a year
•  Each new-build CCS power plant would generate between 1,000 and 2,500 jobs in construction, with a further 200-300 jobs in operation, maintenance and the associated supply chain
•  CCS could help Britain to retain existing industries, such as coal and gas power generation, and support vital energy-intensive industries such as chemicals, steel and cement manufacture, which employ 800,000 people directly and in supply chains
•  The total economic benefits of CCS could reach £2-4bn per year by 2030

But Britain's indigenous coal-mining industry is key to Britain gaining even partial self-sufficiency in meeting its energy needs.

When the industry was destroyed by the Tories, Britain did not stop burning coal in its power stations. It merely imported it.

It can just as easily stop. But opening up the country's vast coal reserves would require political courage and huge financial resources.

When the Selby coalfield was developed in the 1980s the cost to the public purse was £5bn - it was later privatised by the Tories for a fraction of that.

Today the cost would be vastly more.

But if Britain can afford to squander more than £100bn on the Trident missile system, it can surely afford to invest in the country's future energy supplies?

The environmental argument over investing in CCS is also overpowering.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady points out that Britain is committed to reducing its carbon emissions in the coming decades.

"Carbon capture storage technology offers a way to meet our environmental targets, while creating thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs and transforming regional economies.

"New CCS plants would create thousands of new jobs and safeguard many more in energy-intensive industries such as steel, chemicals and cement.

"This is a great opportunity to reinvigorate our manufacturing sector and bring new research and development, design and construction jobs to areas like Yorkshire, the north-east and Scotland.

"Our depleted North Sea gas and oilfields make Britain one of the best areas in the world to exploit CCS technology. But without stronger government backing we risk losing our competitive advantage and all the jobs and economic activity that CCS could bring."

CCSA chief executive Dr Luke Warren agrees.

"This report definitively shows that the successful deployment of CCS has wider benefits for the economy," he says.

"Respected international and British organisations agree that without CCS in the mix, the costs of meeting climate change targets will rise significantly.

"We have gone further in this report to show that the cost savings from CCS have a real impact on the average household, increasing their disposable income and reducing the risk of fuel poverty.

"Britain is one of the best places in the world to develop CCS - we have abundant storage capacity in the North Sea, a world-class oil and gas industry with the right skills for CCS and existing infrastructure that can be reused.

"Now is the time to seize this opportunity, realise the significant benefits of CCS and become one of the global leaders in this vital technology."

The National Union of Mineworkers backs the report and its proposals.

General secretary Chris Kitchen says that for a fraction of the subsidy given to renewables by successive governments Britain could have an up-and-running CCS industry generating jobs and revenue and providing a cheaper form of electricity while reducing CO2 emissions.

"In respect of security of supply unless this government takes its head out of the sand as a matter of urgency we will lose the highly skilled and committed workforce that remains in the British deep-mined coal industry.

The alternative is "to pay through the nose for it as it will be imported."

"Carbon capture and storage technology does exist.

"It has been trialled around the world and to get the full benefits of cheaper electricity and security of supply by retaining an indigenous coal industry and much needed jobs, we have to get the government to include coal in the Energy Policy in order that investment can be made into CCS and the coal industry for the benefit of all," Kitchen argues.

Britain's deep-mine coal industry is clinging on by its fingertips. Only three mines remain.

Before the closures strike of 1984-5 there were 170.

The signs do not augur well however, at least under this government.

Billions of tons of coal reserves exist in north-east England between the Wear and the Scottish Borders.

They have been abandoned by UK Coal and the licence to exploit them handed to gas-drilling firm Five Quarters UCG, which intends to exploit them by controversial fracking, a method highly damaging to the environment, even to water supplies.

In addition fracking exploits only around 4 per cent of coal's calorific energy.

The alternative is to sink a string of "super pits" to exploit the reserves, and develop the coalfield in parallel with development and construction of CCS power stations.

The north-east's reserves represent only a fraction of the total reserves in Britain. What are we waiting for?