Climate Change Policy and Economic Competitiveness - Literature review Example

CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY AND ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS By Introduction The global warming has presented varied challenges to the life of people and other living organisms and there are needs to develop effective control policies. Climate change is mainly caused by emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which is largely influenced by human activities. Owing to this there are several potential policies for reducing levels of greenhouse in the atmosphere. These include development of carbon injection into oceans and underground deep storages, laws regulating levels of greenhouse emissions by industries, and increased adoption of green alternative energy to reduce dependence on the fossil fuel energy. There are also technologies developed to minimize emissions by machines and automotive sector that use petroleum or coal power (Tiwari, & Mishra, 2012 p.42). However, these policies have varied effects to the consequences of climate change and require evaluation to ensure appropriate ones are selected for implementations. The implementation stage is very critical and would determine success of the prevention policy adopted in terms of outcomes as well as costs incurred. This paper evaluates the climate change policies for implementation in the United Kingdom to bear general favourable outcomes while considering the reactions of other governments Discussion The different climate change policies have positive impact on the rate of global warming though may not be suitable when other related aspects are considered. Most policies largely emphasize on reducing the levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or cutting down emissions from various sources. As such, the methods may not lead to little considerations of other factors that affect implementation processes to attain general succeed. For instance, some methods may involve huge costs in developing and maintaining them running that surpass the cost benefits associated with the specific amount of greenhouse gases reduced from the atmosphere (EPA, 2013 p1). In such a situation, the policies though beneficial in reducing rate of climate change may not be sustainable in the long run and this could lead to failure. This has implications to many governments such as the U.K. The governments need to evaluate policies for implementation based on the overall benefits and not only the benefits on reducing climate change. Activities of other governments are important in the evaluation of the climate change policy for implementation. Climate change affects the entire world even though only a few countries have high human activities that contribute to global warming. Following this, it is impossible for a country to selectively control the atmosphere above it through the local policies used. As such, climate controls activities in a country would benefit others that may not implement own policies (Maczulak, 2010 p.39). This would constitute losses from the resources directed towards fighting climate change since benefits derived are shared with countries that do not have established policies. Consequently, the expenditures incurred in fighting global warming may make the country less progressive in developments as compared to those without control practices. The latter would direct equivalent resources to other development projects that would exclusively benefit its population. In addition, other countries would adopt less costly policies that could lead to inequitable resource use in controlling the climate change. As a consequence varied levels development would be experienced in among the countries involved. In other situations, other countries could increase the levels of greenhouse gas emissions and hence policies adopted would bear little benefits in improving the general climatic conditions worldwide. Following these varied reactions by the other governments, generally successful policies would require the cooperation and input of all or many countries. Based on the considerations raised above, the policy of transforming production of electricity through increased adoption of renewable energy sources would be successful in the U.K. the country uses huge amounts of petroleum in generations of electricity power for use in industries as well as in consumer homes. The petroleum source leads to huge emissions of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is the chief greenhouse gas causing global warming worldwide (Twidell, J. et al. 2015 p.67).. Reduced reliance on petroleum for production of electricity would consequently reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and therefore lower the rates of global warming. This would require development of alternative sources for generating electricity and that do not emit other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. This would enable the country meet the demands for the electricity power while at the same time cutting down emissions that increase rates of climate change. Some renewable energy sources are suitable for the U.K and could be adopted or expanded gradually to replace or lower use of fossil fuels source. This includes the use of hydro, thermal, solar, wind and nuclear sources of energy (Gov.UK, 2013 p1). These sources have outcomes in the electricity generation across Europe due to changes in seasons as well as the vulnerabilities to the effects of climate change. The U.K government would require the evaluation of the most suitable source to ensure they provide reliable and sustainable alternative energy for the population (Berkhourt et al, 2013 p22). The hydropower is based on the availability of water from the rivers and other sources and would be reliable where there are permanent rivers. The hydropower could generate electricity through out and hence would attain steady supply. However, the source is vulnerable to climate change through high precipitations that reduce water levels available for generation electricity. Thermal, nuclear, wind and solar sources also require evaluation for their utilities. The thermal power involves use of underground steam and is reliable for continuous generation of electricity. However, huge amounts of water are required in cooling the systems. The cooling waters are obtained from the available sources that experiencing high precipitation due to climate changes. This source is thus influenced by increased rates of global warming. Similar problem is experienced in the nuclear power production where water is a coolant (WNA, 2015 p.1). The low supplies of cooling waters for the thermal and nuclear power would lead to increased shut-downs of the plants or raising costs incurred in running alternative cooling system. The sources of solar and wind are barely influenced by the global warming. Wind power relies on the wind currents and would produce electricity throughout day and night especially in regions receiving strong wind patterns. On the other hand, solar energy is harvested from the sun rays and useful in generating electricity during the daytime. The source is positively influenced by the climate change through extended sunshine spells. Transformation of the U.K electricity to adopt the renewable sources has overall benefits and is recommendable for implementation in the country. The alternative sources are supported with technological advancements that avail highly performing equipment such as solar concentrators and powerful windmills for exploiting alternative source energies. These equipment lead to increased quantities of electricity produced and therefore are capable of meeting national demands (Edenhofer et al 2012 p.12). Expanding the country’s renewable electricity energy plants would be supported with necessary technology to attain targets or increase energy produced. Moreover, the renewable sources are practical in small-scale production of electricity. For instance, some of the sources are useful for domestic or business power generation and hence consumers would reduce reliance on the national power supplies as well as associated costs. Examples are small windmills and solar panels that are available for population to use at their homes of businesses. However, the adoption of the renewable energies at domestic levels is limited by the lack of adequate information or awareness for consumer input in the efforts of combating climatic change. In addition, some business people do not use alternative energy sources for applications that require low electricity due to low awareness on its contributions of reducing rate of climate change. The renewable sources involve low maintenance costs after the initial costs of installing facilities. The renewable sources are regarded as cheap forms of electricity since they do not require huge operational costs as compared to the use of fossil fuels. High costs are only experienced in the initial activities of establishing the plants or stations for generating electricity. No costs are incurred in buying materials for generation electricity as compared to use of petroleum (Da Rosa, 2012 p.29). Energy sources are naturally available in the environment and hence no expenses are incurred to acquire them. For the fossil fuel source, huge costs are incurred in buying petroleum or coal from producing countries. This constitutes a continuous expense to the electricity generating plants as well as the businesses or consumer households. In the long run, the government and the people would spend huge finances in buying oil that would be adequate to install renewable energy plants. Other operational costs are minimal especially where the renewable sources do not require sophisticated systems such as in solar and wind power plants that require fewer people to run them unlike in the case of petroleum electricity plants. Implementation of the alternative source energy is a productive policy of redressing global warming. The resources committed to renewable energies lead to production of electricity useful to people and businesses. This contrasts other policies that deal with impacts of global warming that do not offer valuable products to the government or the citizens. For instance, the resources directed in policies such as capturing carbon dioxide from atmosphere or emitting plants for storage at deep oceans or deep underground. This consumes huge resources and costs yet does not provide product for use by the people. In addition, it is a recurrent expenditure and that involve increased costs in the long run and hence it is less sustainable. However, when renewable energy sources are used the recurrent expenses would be reduced leading to savings for the country and population. Resources committed would be recovered after some time of operating the renewable power plants or from savings enjoyed through reduced costs on fossil fuels. Other nations are increasing the adoption of the renewable energy sources for electricity and the U.K would follow suit to enjoy related benefits. Other countries in Europe have developed plans of transforming electricity production through increased use of alternative sources for generating electricity power. This policy is in efforts of the European Union of cutting down carbon dioxide emissions from use of fossil fuel and ultimately slow rates of climate change. According Berkhourt et al (2013 p23), the EU would cut down carbon dioxide emissions by over 30 percent by 2050 through use of renewable power with major contribution of coming for wind power. Other countries worldwide are also increasing use of renewable energy sources for energy safety as well as reducing rates of global warming. Conclusion This paper has discussed about the evaluation of the climate change policies to determine the most suitable for use in the U.K based on overall outcomes. There are several policies available for use in combating climate change especially emphasizing on benefits of reducing greenhouse gases emitted to atmosphere. Analysis of overall benefits is necessary to ensure policies developed are successful and sustainable. Considerations of policies in other countries are also important to ensure a country remains competitive. Based on these discussions, the paper explains that the policy of transforming electricity production in U.K to adopt increased renewable energy sources would be successful. Some renewable sources are feasible in U.K such as wind and solar power and are not affected by climate change. In addition, the sources in are supported with advanced technologies, involve low maintenance costs and enable small scale production. In addition, they are free in nature, provide valuable products to citizens and are applied in other countries. Reference List Berkhout, F. et al. (2013). European Responses to Climate Change: Deep Emissions Reductions and Mainstreaming Of Mitigation and Adaptation. http://www.responsesproject.eu/pdf/RESPONSES%20Policy%20Brief%20Keyfindings.pdf. Da Rosa, A. V. (2012). Fundamentals of renewable energy processes. Oxford, Academic. Edenhofer, O. et al (2012). Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. EPA. (2013). Evaluating Climate Policy Options, Costs and Benefits. U.S Environmental Protection Agency. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/EPAactivities/economics.html Gov.UK. (2013). Policy: Low carbon technologies. https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/increasing-the-use-of-low-carbon-technologies Maczulak, A. E. (2010). Renewable energy: sources and methods. New York, Facts On File. Tiwari, G. N., & Mishra, R. K. (2012). Advanced renewable energy sources. Cambridge, RSC Publishing. Twidell, J. et al. (2015). Renewable Energy Resources. New York: Routledge. WNA. (2015). Policy Responses to Climate Change. World Nuclear Association. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Energy-and-Environment/Policy-Responses-to-Climate-Change/ Read More