Achieving the UK Green Energy Goal
Britain will be left with just one coal-burning power station by the end of next year – bringing the country closer to its goal of ending the use of fossil fuel in electricity generation by 2024. The UK has rapidly moved away from coal-fired power in the last decade and the government hopes to convince other nations to stop building new coal-fired power stations at Cop26, a climate conference that will be held in Glasgow later this year. Last year was a record year for renewable energy in the UK, accounting for almost 42% of the country’s electricity. Clean power generated more electricity than fossil fuels for the first time. Wind and solar generated 30% of Britain’s electricity in 2020, around half the share required by 2025 for the UK to reach its climate targets according to the Climate Change Committee (CCC). The report also said that achieving the CCC’s targets will require a range of other technologies, such as bioenergy with carbon capture and storage, hydrogen and nuclear. Investment into these technologies is needed for the UK’s net zero transition.
Advantages of Renewable Energy
Sourcing our energy from Renewable Energy over fossil fuels provides numerous advantages, and with new technologies such as battery storage (BESS), electric vehicle (EV) and offshore floating solar and wind farms, the UK is moving at a good pace towards their goal of sourcing their energy predominantly from green energy. Some of the benefits include…
- Renewable energy will never run out as the energy is harvested from the planets natural events to generate the power; however this cannot be said for fossil fuels.
- Types of renewable sources include solar, wind, tidal, hydro to name a few.
- Using Renewable Energy is more cost efficient. When using technology that generates energy from renewable sources, you don’t have to pay to refuel, and maintenance costs are lower.
- Renewable Energy has environmental and health benefits. No greenhouse gases are emitted, and the air isn’t polluted resulting in a healthier atmosphere and a smaller carbon footprint.
- Maintenance of renewable energy sites are much lower than the costs of maintaining generators which are used for traditional fuel sources.
Disadvantages of Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy has many benefits however there are some small disadvantages to renewable energy, including:
- The equipment for renewable energy have a higher upfront cost, however there are financial incentives in place to help alleviate the initial costs.
- Renewable Energy sources depend on the weather, for example solar energy is only available during the daytime and for wind farms, some days can be windier than others.
- The Electricity Generation capacity is still not large enough to generate enough energy to power the whole nation, which means that we need to construct more facilities for the demand.
The benefits of Renewable Energy outweigh the drawbacks: The positives of Renewable Energy by far outweigh the disadvantages. Transitioning to renewable energy will help our environment and will reduce our carbon footprint for our generation and future generations. Renewable Energy is much more cost efficient and as technology improves and new renewable energy projects are constructed, the UK will have the sufficient generation capacity to power the whole nation. We are currently in a transitional stage, one to which many hope will mean a more positive future. I personally am very excited to continue on this journey and look forward to recruiting many more key professionals within the renewable energy space! If you work in the renewable energy sector and are looking for support with your next career move, please don’t hesitate to get in contact: Rob Byrom [email protected]
