Adoption of Renewable Energy Technologies in the United Kingdom - Essay Example

Adoption of Renewable Energy Technologies in the United Kingdom Introduction Over the last decades, the industrial revolution and the massive burning of fossil fuels have contributed tremendously to the carbon dioxide emissions. The increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has caused a considerably accelerated increase on Earth’s temperature, thereby, resulted into various environmental concerns. Today, the world is dominated by industrial sectors that require constant energy development. A huge proportion of the world's energy resources come from natural gases, fossil fuels, and nuclear fuels. These types of energy sources emit harmful chemicals and residues in the atmosphere, on the soil and in various bodies of water, which are harmful to the environment. Recent studies estimate that the demand for energy will increase affectedly within the next few decades. Many scientists around the world agonise over the postulated insufficiency of natural gases which are now considered to be finite and unsustainable. Also, global environmental problems like global warming call for cleaner energy sources in order to preclude degenerative developments in the world's environmental conditions. The running down of United Kingdom’s vast energy resources, along with the forecasted escalation of the world’s energy consumption imperils its energy security. Jamieson 2 Sole reliance on fossil and nuclear fuels voids its commitment to reducing energy consumption and cutting carbon emissions. The national government now turns to exploiting renewable energy sources that will increase energy supply. The adoption of renewable energy will also help in the decarbonisation of the atmosphere using Carbon and Capture Technology. The Department of Energy and Climate Change’s Office for Renewable Energy Development exerts effort in order to understand how this transformation can be achieved and to discuss the possible barriers that may debar adoption of renewable energy. How to achieve development of diverse renewable resources The implementation of renewable energy technologies in the United Kingdom can “meet the target to deliver 15% of the UK’s energy consumption from renewable resources by 2020” (Department of Energy and Climate Change, “Renewable Energy”). There are eight (8) renewable resources technologies that will be used to generate at least 15% of the total energy consumption in the United Kingdom by 2020. These are the following: (1) Onshore wind; (2) Offshore wind; (3) Marine Energy; (4) Biomass Electricity; (5) Biomass Heat; (6) Air-source and Ground-source heat pumps; (7) Renewable Transport; (8) Solar and Geothermal Technologies. The national government should focus on the following measures in order to achieve these developments: 1. Enabling access to the grid. Deployment of energy generated by renewable energy resources cannot be completed without access to the grid. This can make or break the plan. The government must ensure that grids are supplied on all renewable energy sites in order to ease deployment actions. Jamieson 3 2. Making sure of a sustainable supply of bioenergy. Bioenergy is seen to possibly contribute almost half of the total energy production needed to meet the 15% target. However, matters pertaining to its sustainability may reduce the use of bioenergy. 3. Technological Advancement. A constant upgrade on technological support is needed to elevate efficiency on the deployment of energy throughout the country. While tools and equipment used in some forms of renewable energy technologies are relatively advanced, others are yet struggling from having comparatively outmoded technology. The Relevance of Sustainable Consumption to Global Issues The depletion of the natural resources, particularly fossil fuels, which are primarily used to generate energy, alarms the global community of a prospective worldwide dilemma that could possibly involve deficiency in energy supply. In addition, colossal recovery operations of these natural energy sources and the process of transforming it to electrical energy releases pernicious chemicals and other damaging residues that can cause environmental impacts including, but not limited to, global warming, extreme acidification of the ocean waters, lakes and dikes, and health problems. These issues are global matters that should be addressed by everyone involved. In an effort to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere, many countries around the world have committed to adopt renewable energy sources, which will not only increase the sustainability of energy supply but will also mitigate environmental snags caused by excessive carbon emissions. The United Kingdom’s Department of Energy and Climate Change has released a Renewable Energy Directive in 2009 that points toward the achievement of “15% of its energy consumption from renewable sources by 2020” (Department of Energy and Climate Change, “Renewable Energy”). Also, carbon reduction methods have been utilized to maximise the country’s Jamieson 4 contribution to the global effort of controlling the amount of environmentally hazardous elements in the atmosphere. Technology and Sustainable Developments Sustainable developments cannot be achieved with the absence of technological support and ideal lifestyle approaches. Renewable energies do not come automatically usable directly from the location of recovery. They need to be converted into usable energies for sustainable consumption. The integration of technology and lifestyle approaches aided to effectively employ effective measures that ensure the use of renewable energy. Technology helped in the appropriate and proficient deployment of renewable energy to the consumers. Lifestyle approaches help through responsible utilization of energy. Sustainable Developments and Consequences for Consumption Basically, the prime concern would be that consequences of sustainable development to consumption are expressed almost entirely in terms of economic sustainability. Sustainable developments are argued to be reducing economic activity by various transformations in services and resources. While some believe that sustainable development seeks to promote preservation of natural resources, others argued that this demands an overall shift of focus. For example, the UK government is now starting to transform from using natural gases to renewable energy. On one hand, it strengthens sustainable development; nevertheless, it also disturbs economic activity considering that volatility in terms of prices and demand on electricity will extremely vary depending on certain factors like cost-effectiveness and availability of resources. References The Department of Energy and Climate Change. Government of the United Kingdom, 2012. Web. 09 October 2012. Read More