Wind power, a reality for future green electricity in the UK?

Can wind power be seen as a reality for future green electricity in UK?

Wind, one of the many renewable energy sources of which surround us and today, seen as one of if not the source of energy with the most potential for future ‘green’ power. With the situation we are in today facing global warming, it is now that governments must look to alternative methods for power production.

Who is here to help?

Companies such as E-on technology are taking those steps to make wind power recognised as a viable method of power generation for the future. The company are currently building their nineteenth wind farm, committing their sites throughout the UK not only onshore but offshore as well and with the United Kingdom being the windiest country in Europe, E-on would appear to be well placed taking advantage of this natural resource.

My report will examine the issues, environmentally and politically with the use of wind turbines and discuss the possibilities for this method’s future in this modern world. Overcoming the major problem today that is global warming. I will also discuss lightly the Kyoto Protocol.

The Kyoto Protocol

The Kyoto protocol is an agreement of which was made under the Unite Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The agreement was first negotiated in 1997 Kyoto, Japan and was soon opened for signature in 1998 and closed on March 15, 1999. Countries of who agree to this will be committed to cutting their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% compared to the year 1990. The main goal of this agreement is to lower the overall emissions of 6 greenhouse gases across the globe, gases such as; carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, hyfrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.
The Kyoto protocol was enforced in 2005 following Russia climbing on board in 2004 and now as of 2007, 175 countries have ratified the agreement, covering more than 61.6% of countries in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions. The countries committed to the agreement are split into two categories, Annex I, countries of who have accepted emission reduction obligations and have to produce and annual greenhouse gas emissions inventory, and Non-Annex I, countries who have no such obligations but may participate in the Clean Development Mechanism.

Where does the UK fall in this?

The UK is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, and as a leading role in Europe, must set the standards for others to follow. The UK government pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from 1990 levels by 2010 and although the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions have as hoped decreased, the annual net carbon dioxide emissions have risen by around 2% since 1997 when the Labour Party came to power. In light of this, it appears unlikely the government’s pledge will be honoured. Never the less I believe with immediate and drastic action, although I cannot see the original target being met, surely at least a more reasonable reduction should be attempted?

The United Kingdom produced roughly an annual amount of 554 thousand tonnes of CO2 in 2005, this contributed as roughly 2.2% of global CO2 emissions. Now considering methods of alternative power generation, in this case discussing wind power, 30% of CO2 emissions are caused by burning fossil fuels for power in the UK, implementing wind power on a large scale throughout the UK has the potential to cut annual CO2 emissions by anything up to 100 tonnes. This is a considerable difference.

Is it really possible?

The population of the United Kingdom depend on power and almost all of this power comes from a mixture of fossil fuels. If wind power was to be introduced at a large scale across the UK, considering a wind turbine can power roughly 1500 homes, a huge number of turbines would have to be constructed and this would require a great deal of man power, as the planning process for a wind farm is no small task. Therefore at the moment it may not appear realistic. Never the less with companies like E-on Technology setting the standards, there is a bright future for wind power, and considering that less than 1% of the UK’s seabed could site enough turbines to generate 40% of the UK’s electricity it seems to be a very strong candidate for an alternative method of power generation. Hopefully others will follow in E-on’s footsteps and join them in introducing wind power not only to the UK but globally.

We have the sustainable technology to cut out the burning of fossil fuels, and battle the global problem of global warming. However it still appears that there is a lack of interest in supporting these methods, and there must be a reason for this?

Political and Financial issues

Switching to green energy would cause huge impact on the country, companies who rely on the burning of fossil fuels would face drastic changes in their business plan to avoid going under and customers would have to change providers in such cases, causing a lot of hassle, something of which everybody wants to avoid. The major problem we face is the lack of interest from the general public and that most would rather just ignore the fact of global warming and carry on as things are, because that is what’s easier. Never the less, taking that attitude doesn’t get rid of the issue, that global warming is getting worse! And putting this off, will simply the transition from fossil fuels to greener sources, rather than gradual will just end up being more drastic. At moment the target is that 15% of UK’s power will come from renewable sources in 2015, I believe if the government really wish to tackle global warming now, the bar could be raised.

Tackling climate change is not a cheap thing. Within the UK, onshore and offshore there are 137 operational wind farms totalling 1769 wind turbines. These turbines provide electricity to 1,137,784 homes throughout the UK, that is 2034.85MW accounting for 1.3% of UK’s overall power generation. E-on own 219 of these wind turbines and plan to invest £1 billion on renewable technology in the next 5 years. However all these costs could be considered worth it, when you think about what is at stake?

Technical issues

As with anything, there are issues of which are brought up as reasoning against wind power such as; noise, shadow flickering upon nearby residents and interference with telecommunication and aviation. All issues can be addressed, noise, it is possible to have a conversation below a turbine without raising your voice, and with the issue of shadow flickering, it is quite simple to ensure that the wind farm is of a distance that is cannot affect residents in this way. Addressing the issue of interference with aviation and telecommunication signals, steps are taken, especially in the case of E-on technology to ensure that this is not a problem, checking with the Ministry of Defence as well as telecommunication companies.

It surely is clear that when addressing the issues with wind power, that when you compare these issues to that of which the current burning of fossil fuels, such as affects on the environment and global warming, it becomes clear which of methods is more innocent. It may be the case that, yes, wind power relies 100% on a natural resource that is wind and therefore will no generate all the time, however all forms of generation require back up for unexpected outages and not ignoring the fact that no energy technology can be relied on 100%.

I firmly believe that yes we cannot simply just rely on wind power, however it is definitely being neglected, and with a good mixture of use of renewable sources green energy can be relied on in the future.

I conclude...

The planet’s fossil fuels are running out let alone damaging our atmosphere, and with the climate changes and freak weather, it is clear, a new greener method of electricity generation has to be implemented globally, and I strongly believe that renewable energy is a major step in the right way to meeting the criteria for what is labelled ‘sustainable development’ and I also believe that wind power will something of the future. Technology is becoming more advanced every day, it’s just a matter of time before the drawbacks to wind turbines are other renewable generation methods are eradicated and we can rely on green electricity to see us into the future. Until that day we leave our hands in the great minds of our time.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_the_United_Kingdom
Image of wind turbine explanation – E-ON technology
Statistics of annual CO2 emissions – collected by the CDIAC 2004 for United Nations:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions
http://www.eon-uk.com/generation/wind.aspx
Elliott, D. (1997). Energy, Society and Environment: Technology for a sustainable future. Routledge: London