It also comes as the government plunges into a study of how to feed the country's electricity needs while at the same time meeting its international obligations to cut emissions of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels which create climate change.

"Industry sees the possibility of blackouts by 2012 as a 'major concern'. We cannot allow such levels of uncertainty to persist," said Digby Jones, director general of the Confederation of British Industry lobby group.

"We face some major decisions over our approach to energy in this country. If these decisions are got wrong, or simply put off, the business need for secure energy supplies at internationally competitive prices will become ever harder to meet," he added.

A massive 88 percent of those surveyed said the biggest brake on moves to curb climate change was government inaction.

A further three-quarters believed the country would miss its Kyoto Protocol target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.

Average global temperatures have already risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius since the start of the industrial age and most scientists agree that a rise of over two degrees could tip the world into a climatic meltdown with catastrophic consequences.

The government, whose energy review is due to produce recommendations by mid-year, has said it faces an electricity shortfall of 20 percent as the old nuclear plants are closed.

Environmentalists have said the gap can be closed by a combination of renewables like wind and waves and more efficient generation and usage of electricity.

But a parliamentary committee report earlier this month said that technologies like capturing and storing carbon from burning coal offered the most immediate benefits.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has said renewables cannot plug the gap, and his energy minister Malcolm Wicks said last week there was a clear case for new nuclear power stations - touted as being carbon-free - being part of the energy mix.