National strategies for saving energy

Página 1

National strategies for saving energy

National Carbon Plan

The government have recently published a national carbon

plan for the whole of the UK. This plan shows ways of maintaining a steady

decline in carbon emissions until they reach 80%less than the 1990 levels

before/in 2050. Each carbon budget within the plan lasts for five years, giving

a reasonable amount of time to secure the results. The first of these budgets is currently in

its fourth year of progress and will come to an end in December next year. By

2020, the government hope to have cut carbon emissions by 34%. The first four

carbon budgets have been set in law; therefore they will have to be carried

out, no matter what happens between now and 2027. By the end of this year, the

government are hoping to have hit targets of a 23% decline. This will

considerably reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the UK, thus reducing the

country’s carbon footprint.

The Green Deal

Secondly; the government have set up a “Green Deal”, which

is set to run from next October, and will make it far easier for households to

save energy. This will work by encouraging households to sign up to the scheme.

By doing this, any money they save by using less energy will go towards

insulation for houses across the nation. All energy bills will remain the same,

with the occasional few reducing. This insulation will go to less fortunate

households who cannot afford the insulation that they require.

Renewable energy

Thirdly, the government will introduce more methods of

renewable energy. These will include wind farms and solar panels, alongside

many more. These will inevitably cut greenhouse gas emissions, because there

will be little need to burn fossil fuels to generate energy. This will reduce

the country’s carbon footprint, as less greenhouse gasses will be released into

the already polluted atmosphere. In addition to cutting emissions, the scheme

will provide business opportunities for many unemployed workers across the UK

and the rest of the world, allowing other countries to learn from us and

develop their own renewable energy industries. If we can reduce the

international carbon footprint, we could postpone global warming for many

years, therefore extending the life of our planet.

Heat

Next; heat. Heat is the biggest single energy consumer in

the UK. On average, we spend around £33 billion per year on hearing out homes,

offices, transport and workplaces. The vast majority of this heat comes from

burning fossil fuels. This is something that the government are keen to change.

This amounts to over a third of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the UK.

The alternatives for heat energy will depend greatly on the geography of the

place. For a coastal town, hydropower is an ideal alternative; however this

wouldn’t be the case in the midlands for instance. We need to find other

alternatives for heat as soon as possible, as it is a major contributor to

greenhouse gases.

Biomass

Biomass is renewable energy derived from plants or animals.

It is a versatile fuel and can be used in many different ways. The government

are using biomass mainly because it is easy to predict the production levels of

biomass than it is for any other form of renewable energy. The government are

convinced that biomass is sustainable; however some may have reservations on

the matter. Dry biomass is commonly burned to create heat energy, whereas wet

biomass is converted into flammable biogas. In order to make biomass

sustainable, we need to regularly replant the crops and plants we use in the

making.

Hydroelectricity

Hydroelectric power is power generated by falling water. As

we receive a high amount of rainfall in the UK, we have an awful lot of falling

water. We could put this to use by turning it into hydroelectricity. As the

scheme is purely water, little or no carbon emissions arise from the process,

making it ideal for cutting our national carbon footprint. This is a

sustainable, renewable programme, as it will continue to rain, and as we are an

island, there is plenty of water around us to use to generate electricity. As

long as this water is transported efficiently, there will be no carbon

emissions throughout the entire process.

Tidal

Tidal energy is ideal for the UK as we are an island,

meaning we have tides all around us. Additionally, you can never be more than 70

miles from the sea, so it can be used throughout the country. Tides have the

potential to generate a lot of electricity, as they can be rather powerful.

Tidal barrage which will come from the process can also double as a bridge,

thus preventing flooding. Some people believe that tidal energy could have a

negative impact on the environment, however the government disagree completely.

Nuclear power

Nuclear power produces low carbon emissions, lower than you

would expect. The government state that nuclear power has the potential to

reduce the country’s carbon emissions by 7-14%. This would make a huge

difference to the carbon footprint. The process creates extremely large amounts

of energy, about 50 million times the amount per atom than carbon combustion. There

are many disadvantages to the process, however. These include: the cost, the

fact that nuclear waste is extremely toxic and needs to be buried for hundreds

of thousands of years. This makes the process unsustainable.

Wind power

The government currently has wind turbines located all

around the UK, both onshore and offshore. As the UK has some of the best wind

resources in Europe, it would be a shame to waste them, especially as a lot of

energy can be generated from it.

New Page