SOURCES OF RENEWABLE ENERGY IMPLEMENTED IN THE UK
Renewable energy technologies play a very crucial role in the production of sustainable energy. Their indispensable role is better appreciated during these times when the level of green gasses emitted into the environment across the globe has significantly increased. The UK prides in several renewable energy sources. If fully utilized these sources can not only reduce the amount of emissions of green gases into the environment, but also create security for the residents of the United Kingdom. It is for these reasons that renewable energy sources have become the subject of serious research and study in the last few years. The European Union on its part has also set certain targets for various nations to bring the amounts of emission down within the next ten years.
The use of renewable energy has been hailed as one of the best ways to ensure that this is realized. This is because oil is not only expensive as an energy resource, but it also causes serious environmental pollution across the globe. A target set by the European Union seeks to ensure that at least forty five percent of the energy used in various countries is from renewable sources. It is against this background that the UK government has promoted the implementation of sources of renewable energy. The advantages of such an undertaking are in no way few. People use various kinds of energy every day. It is important therefore, that the sources of energy be not only sustainable, but also environmental friendly. This paper is aimed at establishing the various sources of renewable energy that have been implemented in the United Kingdom.
Why Renewable Energy
As already mentioned, the human person is in every way dependent on one kind of energy or another. Today the fact of the global warming has become very well known, and it has sparked a widespread attempt at reduction of the green house gases emitted into the environment. This is why alternative sources of energy, which happen to be very friendly to the environment, have been widely sought after. To this end, considerations have been made in the UK for energies such as nuclear energy, heat and power (combined), coal, as well as gas and oil (Science, 2009). The UK has several technologies in place at the moment, which all target at the creation of energy that bears minimum carbon amounts to the environment. The government has undertaken to cooperate with the various stakeholders in this area in order to ensure a successful implementation. This is done in line with the target set by the European Union for over fifteen percent of primary energies, as well as over thirty percent of electrical energy production from renewable resources by the year 2020. It is understood that with this shift, sustainable energy will be produced with the effect of providing greater security to the people of the United Kingdom by minimizing the reliance on the fossil fuels for the day to day operations in both the private and public lives in the United Kingdom (McCarthy Tetrault, 2009). This will also hopefully reduce the amount of money spent on oil, which should be channeled into more meaningful areas, thereby ensuring development.
It is important to mention that the government has not performed tremendously in this regard. It is well known that renewable energy is the way to go if any meaningful development is to ever be achieved. As already mentioned, there are various technologies in the United Kingdom, but they suffer in terms of deployment, because of a number of issues. The policies of the government have in a number of ways been both inadequate and inconsistent. There are various types of renewable resources in the UK
Offshore Wind
There is a remarkable increase in the number of offshore wind farms deployed in the United Kingdom over the last number of years. Over four offshore wind farms were operational in the year 2005. This has especially been greatly boosted by the governments decision to introduce support levels of 1.5 ROCs per MWh. This applies basically in the Renewable Obligation (RO). Although this has been done, it is crucial that government support focus on the reduction of cost, the design of turbines, as well as the operations in the deep seas. This source of energy is likely to pass as one of the most sought after sources due to its relatively cheaper cost of establishment.
PhotoVoltaics (PV)
This refers to the use of array of cells in the production of electricity. This involves the conversion of the radiation produced by the sun into direct current. Although this kind of energy has been minimally explored, it carries significant potential for renewable energy. It however has been greatly affected by its expensiveness, as well as the climatic conditions in the UK (Mark and Mark, 2009). This area needs a lot of government intervention in order to cut the costs, as well as facilitate the provision of cell materials, and most importantly, the improvement of efficiency. It is estimated that very little may be achieved in this area before the year 2025. This is because of the huge cost involved.
Wave Energy
This type of energy source has found great deployment but only in the small scale. Steps have been made to for the production in large scale. One important step has been the 2 ROCs per MWh. However, more needs to be done in order to achieve a full scale deployment. This is one of the few sources of energy that emit the lowest amount of carbon into the environment. It is one of the most sustainable as well (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 2).
Tidal Energy
Basically, tidal energies are of two kinds. There is what is referred to as barrages, as well as tidal streams. Barrages have been to a great extent been very successfully implemented in the UK. Barrages take advantage of tides, which is greatly aided by the strategic placing of the island. The Severn Estuary has been one such project that has seen successful implementation (Mark, Jacobson and Mark 2009). At the moment, there lacks sufficient plans as well as proper assessment regarding the impacts of this kind of energy in as far as the environment, economy, as well as society are concerned. It is estimated that between the years 2015 to the year 2025, this source of energy will be used in the large scale (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 3). Still more needs to be done by all responsible persons.
Bio-energy
This is a very widely used source of energy, and it involves a lot of things. Biomass is one area that has found great interest from various quarters in energy sector, with an ever increasing use of waste streams in the production of energy. There have been several calls for the use of this kind of energy (the renewable energy center, 2009). However, it still remains crucial that the processes of conversion be optimized. The use of certain crops for production of fuel, for instance the Jatropa plant has also been part of the bio energy strategy. Bio energy, like the offshore wind is probably going to be more widely used in the next few years in the UK. In the year 2004, over thirty eight percent, translating to 105.9 GW.h was produced by use of this source alone (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 2). This was more that five hundred percent increase since the early nineties. It is evident that this will become a choice for many as a source of renewable energy.
Intelligent Grid Management and Energy Storage
In the UK, the storage of electrical energy has not been very much explored only the pumped storage has so far been well established. This is one area that carries so much potential in as far as the transformation of supply infrastructure is concerned. The Regenysys System for instance was explored for quite sometime, and even at one point almost became a commercial venture. However, more needs to be done in order to aid in the provision of reliable supply of electrical energy (United Nations Environmental Programme. 2007).
Micro-generation
In the year 2006, the government launched an ambitious strategy where various homes and business would generate power by use of sources such as solar electricity as well as wind turbines and so on (National Energy Foundation 2009). However, this program has already faced serious challenges respecting funding issues.
The UK has several technologies in place at the moment, which all target at the creation of energy that bears minimum carbon amounts to the environment. Most of these however are available in the small scale, and it is hoped that in the next few years, there will be an even greater leap to a large scale production of these resources. However, although the government has done something in terms of promotion of renewable energy, a lot more needs to be done. This is an area that carries so much potential, that it has been considered by many the key to solving energy problems in the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the government needs to do more if the vision that it has set for itself is to be realized before the year 2020.
Recommendations
The government should do more than it has currently done, in terms of money and resources. This is because in most of these energy sources, a lot of time and money is required in order to take these sources to large scale production. This must be done if the renewable energy strategy is to be realized.
The use of renewable energy has been hailed as one of the best ways to ensure that this is realized. This is because oil is not only expensive as an energy resource, but it also causes serious environmental pollution across the globe. A target set by the European Union seeks to ensure that at least forty five percent of the energy used in various countries is from renewable sources. It is against this background that the UK government has promoted the implementation of sources of renewable energy. The advantages of such an undertaking are in no way few. People use various kinds of energy every day. It is important therefore, that the sources of energy be not only sustainable, but also environmental friendly. This paper is aimed at establishing the various sources of renewable energy that have been implemented in the United Kingdom.
Why Renewable Energy
As already mentioned, the human person is in every way dependent on one kind of energy or another. Today the fact of the global warming has become very well known, and it has sparked a widespread attempt at reduction of the green house gases emitted into the environment. This is why alternative sources of energy, which happen to be very friendly to the environment, have been widely sought after. To this end, considerations have been made in the UK for energies such as nuclear energy, heat and power (combined), coal, as well as gas and oil (Science, 2009). The UK has several technologies in place at the moment, which all target at the creation of energy that bears minimum carbon amounts to the environment. The government has undertaken to cooperate with the various stakeholders in this area in order to ensure a successful implementation. This is done in line with the target set by the European Union for over fifteen percent of primary energies, as well as over thirty percent of electrical energy production from renewable resources by the year 2020. It is understood that with this shift, sustainable energy will be produced with the effect of providing greater security to the people of the United Kingdom by minimizing the reliance on the fossil fuels for the day to day operations in both the private and public lives in the United Kingdom (McCarthy Tetrault, 2009). This will also hopefully reduce the amount of money spent on oil, which should be channeled into more meaningful areas, thereby ensuring development.
It is important to mention that the government has not performed tremendously in this regard. It is well known that renewable energy is the way to go if any meaningful development is to ever be achieved. As already mentioned, there are various technologies in the United Kingdom, but they suffer in terms of deployment, because of a number of issues. The policies of the government have in a number of ways been both inadequate and inconsistent. There are various types of renewable resources in the UK
Offshore Wind
There is a remarkable increase in the number of offshore wind farms deployed in the United Kingdom over the last number of years. Over four offshore wind farms were operational in the year 2005. This has especially been greatly boosted by the governments decision to introduce support levels of 1.5 ROCs per MWh. This applies basically in the Renewable Obligation (RO). Although this has been done, it is crucial that government support focus on the reduction of cost, the design of turbines, as well as the operations in the deep seas. This source of energy is likely to pass as one of the most sought after sources due to its relatively cheaper cost of establishment.
PhotoVoltaics (PV)
This refers to the use of array of cells in the production of electricity. This involves the conversion of the radiation produced by the sun into direct current. Although this kind of energy has been minimally explored, it carries significant potential for renewable energy. It however has been greatly affected by its expensiveness, as well as the climatic conditions in the UK (Mark and Mark, 2009). This area needs a lot of government intervention in order to cut the costs, as well as facilitate the provision of cell materials, and most importantly, the improvement of efficiency. It is estimated that very little may be achieved in this area before the year 2025. This is because of the huge cost involved.
Wave Energy
This type of energy source has found great deployment but only in the small scale. Steps have been made to for the production in large scale. One important step has been the 2 ROCs per MWh. However, more needs to be done in order to achieve a full scale deployment. This is one of the few sources of energy that emit the lowest amount of carbon into the environment. It is one of the most sustainable as well (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 2).
Tidal Energy
Basically, tidal energies are of two kinds. There is what is referred to as barrages, as well as tidal streams. Barrages have been to a great extent been very successfully implemented in the UK. Barrages take advantage of tides, which is greatly aided by the strategic placing of the island. The Severn Estuary has been one such project that has seen successful implementation (Mark, Jacobson and Mark 2009). At the moment, there lacks sufficient plans as well as proper assessment regarding the impacts of this kind of energy in as far as the environment, economy, as well as society are concerned. It is estimated that between the years 2015 to the year 2025, this source of energy will be used in the large scale (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 3). Still more needs to be done by all responsible persons.
Bio-energy
This is a very widely used source of energy, and it involves a lot of things. Biomass is one area that has found great interest from various quarters in energy sector, with an ever increasing use of waste streams in the production of energy. There have been several calls for the use of this kind of energy (the renewable energy center, 2009). However, it still remains crucial that the processes of conversion be optimized. The use of certain crops for production of fuel, for instance the Jatropa plant has also been part of the bio energy strategy. Bio energy, like the offshore wind is probably going to be more widely used in the next few years in the UK. In the year 2004, over thirty eight percent, translating to 105.9 GW.h was produced by use of this source alone (Institution of Mechanical Engineers 2007, p. 2). This was more that five hundred percent increase since the early nineties. It is evident that this will become a choice for many as a source of renewable energy.
Intelligent Grid Management and Energy Storage
In the UK, the storage of electrical energy has not been very much explored only the pumped storage has so far been well established. This is one area that carries so much potential in as far as the transformation of supply infrastructure is concerned. The Regenysys System for instance was explored for quite sometime, and even at one point almost became a commercial venture. However, more needs to be done in order to aid in the provision of reliable supply of electrical energy (United Nations Environmental Programme. 2007).
Micro-generation
In the year 2006, the government launched an ambitious strategy where various homes and business would generate power by use of sources such as solar electricity as well as wind turbines and so on (National Energy Foundation 2009). However, this program has already faced serious challenges respecting funding issues.
The UK has several technologies in place at the moment, which all target at the creation of energy that bears minimum carbon amounts to the environment. Most of these however are available in the small scale, and it is hoped that in the next few years, there will be an even greater leap to a large scale production of these resources. However, although the government has done something in terms of promotion of renewable energy, a lot more needs to be done. This is an area that carries so much potential, that it has been considered by many the key to solving energy problems in the United Kingdom. In conclusion, the government needs to do more if the vision that it has set for itself is to be realized before the year 2020.
Recommendations
The government should do more than it has currently done, in terms of money and resources. This is because in most of these energy sources, a lot of time and money is required in order to take these sources to large scale production. This must be done if the renewable energy strategy is to be realized.
