UK faces big jump in renewable targets
Sevenfold increase by 2020
Brussels will next week tell Britain to massively increase use of renewable energy in order to hit increased targets by 2020.
The European Union is setting different targets for different member states. The target is for the average EU country to get 20 per cent of its energy from renewable resources compared to an average of 8.5 per cent now. The UK is currently near the bottom of the list - only Malta and Luxembourg use less renewable energy. Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac signed up to the 20 per cent target in March 2007.
This means Britain will have to increase renewable use to 13-14 per cent by 2020, according to the FT. The deal is still to be passed by member states. The UK's current target is for ten per cent of electricity to come from renewable resources by 2010.
The country by country targets are likely to be highly controversial - Nicolas Sarkozy has already said the targets are unfair and not economically sustainable.
The UK is expected to focus on renewable electricity generation - the targets could increase political support for a tidal barrage across the Severn Estuary.
More from the FT here. ®
COMMENTS
15% = current nuclear power contribution
Hi
15% is the backbone of the grid currently provided by Nuclear electricity.
There is no way in hell that the UK is going to be able to provide that much power from wind farms - its just not viable as a mass power source.
We have not even started to tackle wave powere, despite all the bullshite promises over the last 30 years. I remember it happening in a 'couple of years' time on Tommorows World, 25 years ago.
Crudely put, if you covered scotland in wind turbines, you might be able to powere manchester on a windy day.
Its that inefficient.
Mind you, who would notice?
Its not as if anyone lives there.......
Renewable energy is good for the economy
@anonymous coward
"Kiss good bye to the economy, Say Hello deep recession and poverty."
What is that supposed to mean?
In Denmark since the last couple of years 20% of electricity has been made by wind turbines. And DKs economy has certainly not been in recession the last 5-10 years.
Of all EU countries Britain has the best wind resources available. However Britain has been very late to start using renewable power source. it is only in the last 3 years that there has been any significant uptake in using wind turbines.
I will claim that renewable energy is good for the economy, it is the "do not change anything" attitude that gives stagnation and leads to recession.
Malta is killing the planet!
What if tomorrow someone invented a way of powering an entire village for a week on one lump of coal? I can guarantee you one thing - the EU would still insist we generated 20% of our energy with ugly/expensive renewables because that was the target. I'm exaggerating, but the fact is that using renewables is a means towards clean energy, not an end in itself. Treating it as inherently virtuous is self-evidently stupid.
Government targets are always arbitrary in any case and now they're being applied to something also completely arbitrary. It makes about as much sense as trying to stamp out MRSA by saying that x litres of water must be used in cleaning the hospital every day. Or that we can teach our children to read, write and do sums if they turn over a prescribed number of pages in their textbook per lesson.
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