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Wanna Argument?
Why is the UK languishing in 8th place when it's an island, with coastlines exposed to winds from the Atlantic and the North Sea?
In days gone by, windmills and watermills were common sights in the UK. But has the country adapted to more modern methods of harnessing alternative energy sources? Copyright: Chris Chidsey, from stock.xchng.
While it's true that the UK is well positioned, geographically speaking, to take advantage of wind power, it's also fair to say that Britain made a slow start to do anything about it. There may be several reasons for this:
- North Sea oil and gas. When the first revenues started flowing in from the UK's natural reserves of oil and gas under the North Sea, they coincided with the growth in awareness of the need to produce energy from alternative sources. Other countries got ahead perhaps because they didn't have similar endowments of fuel within their territories.
- Nuclear energy. Some countries, such as the UK and France adopted energy strategies that placed considerable emphasis on nuclear generation of energy. Once again, this acted as a 'drag' on these countries' readiness to exploit more sustainable energy sources. France produces more of its electricity in nuclear plants than any other country in the world - nearly 80%. Britain currently gets about a quarter of its energy from nuclear power.
- Lack of public support. It could be argued that, until fairly recently, wind power has been seen as unpopular among the public. Many people have seen massive wind turbines in Cornwall or northern Scotland. Few will have wanted to see these appearing close to where they live. Wind turbines have been thought of as an eyesore, noisy and/or damaging to birds and other wildlife. More recent evidence suggests that these attitudes are changing. But with population densities among the highest in Europe, the UK faces a struggle to challenge countries like Germany and Spain in wind power.
- Lack of government support. It is only in recent years that the government in the UK has begun to take measures in support of small or large-scale wind power generation. Even with a change in this approach, the UK offers lower incentives to domestic renewable energy production than do other countries such as Germany. As a result, less than 100,000 properties in the UK have some form of micro generation system, such as solar panels, wind turbines and heat pumps. In comparison, German householders installed more than 75,000 solar generation systems last year alone.
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