lower than the target purely through adding renewable and other low carbon technologies. However, if CCGT are used in conjunction with CCS the emissions drop to 56gCO2/MWh. This could then form the majority of the baseload electricity required for the UK in 2030. Other low carbon technologies are required to aggregate the emissions down to lower than the 50gCO2/MWh target but these could come from either solar, wind, fuel cells or nuclear power.
The proposed optimization mix is also highly reliant on the further development of renewable technologies, such as; on-shore and off-shore wind and solar PV technologies. It proposes an increase from the current 13.5GW to the region of 50GW by 2030. The possibilities for off-shore wind is vast
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This could potentially slow the efforts of many individuals and organizations investing time and money into CCS projects [34].
Only time will tell if this is the case but one thing is for certain, by the year 2030 the electricity generation mix will be vastly different to the mix of 2016.
REFERENCES
[9] DECC, 2015; Digest of United Kingdom Energy Statistics 2015. London: National Statistics. Pp.118-122
[10] WWF, 2016
[11] DEFRA, 2005 CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT. HADLEY CENTRE. PP.6-10
[12] IPCC, 2013; 5TH ASSESSMENT REPORT OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL PANEL ON CLIMATE CHANGE FROM WWW.IPCC.COM (ACCESSED 11TH APRIL, 2016)
[13] DIRECTIVE 2003/87/EC, 2003. DIRECTIVE 2003/87/EC THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,. THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT.
[14] UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE, (1998). KYOTO PROTOCOL. KYOTO: UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE,
[15] Theccc.org.uk, 2015, The Climate Change Act and UK regulations | Committee on Climate Change. [online] Available at: https://www.theccc.org.uk/tackling-climate-change/the-legal-landscape/global-action-on-climate-change/ [Accessed 21 Nov. 2015].
[16] PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE OF SCIENCE, 2006
[17] Cooper, Duncan. “Johnson’s Energy Club Competes in Renewable Energy Case Competition”[Online],
The UNFCCC was established in 1994 to address climate change at an international level. Since then, the parties to the convention (including the EU) meet annually in Conferences of the Parties. The Kyoto Protocol (1997) set an obligation for developed countries to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, through setting national targets, using 1990 as a base level. The UK has been one of only a few countries to comply with the international obligation and has reduced GHG emissions since 1990.
As the global population increases exponentially, having passed six billion in 1999, the world population is expected to be 8.9 billion by the year 2050. The worlds energy consumption will increase by an estimated 54 percent by 2025. Energy demand in the industrialized world is projected to grow 1.2 percent per year. Energy is a critical component of sustained economic growth and improved standards of living. One of the major requirements for sustaining human progress is an adequate source of energy. As the world’s technological enhancements and standards of living improve, so too does their appetite for electricity.
The UNFCCC is working with the various governments around the world to stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere to keep the planet from warming more than 2ºC above pre-industrial temperatures (Watts, 2015). The most noted of the work is the annual Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings that began with COP1 in Berlin back in 1995. The COP3 adopted the Kyoto Protocol, even though it wasn’t fully accepted by all member nations. The COP21 was an effort to legally bind members to their submitted plans of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), defining what level of greenhouse gas production each nation would commit to not exceeding from 2025-2030. Prior to the INDCs, a bleak outlook was forecast in 2009-2010 of global temperature rising between 4-5ºC. That figure was restated by the UNFCCC prior to the COP21 in Paris, to below 3ºC, due to the commitments of the INDCs (Watts, 2015).
Global warming and climate change is one of the most pressing issues in the contemporary society given its continued impacts on human life and the world’s ecosystem. The considerable effects of this issue have raised huge concerns among policymakers, governments, and the public. As a result, various initiatives have been developed in attempts to lessen global warming or climate change, especially those related to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere. Governments across the globe including the United Kingdom government have adopted various policies that focus on dealing with the issue. There are various policies that help in dealing with the issue including lessening greenhouse gases emissions, adapting to the effects of climate change, and geo-engineering of the climate system. The attempts by the UK government to address this problem require an understanding of the increasing energy demands and its future impact and use of suitable renewable energy sources.
changing climate and how to respond to these changes. Their Fifth Assessment Report, which is
On the same note, the energy revolution spoken of above brings forth another advance in the ongoing global climate situation. The nature of the Kyoto Protocol calls for nations to increase research and eventually semi-convert their energy usage to accommodate for cleaner energy. Products such as solar power, wind power, biomass, geothermal power, and hydropower are now widely being studying to create processes that use less coal, oil, and natural gas in production. Altogether the results have
However, the Action Plan is not likely to produce 9.8 Mt in new reductions by 2020, as the government stated. For example, the government claimed that using Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account funds to subsidize electricity prices which would produce 3 Mt in emission reductions. We found no evidence to support this claim and concluded that subsidizing electricity rates is not an acceptable use of these funds. Fortunately, the government is no longer proposing to divert Greenhouse Gas Reduction Account funds in this way.
Climate change is happening – the extensive and critically accepted reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have removed any remaining doubt.
The International Energy Agency’s (IEA’s) preliminary estimate of energy-related CO2 emissions in 2015 reveals that emissions stayed flat compared with the year before, whereas the global economy grew (3). The IEA noted that “There have been only four periods in the past 40 years in which CO2 emission levels were flat or fell compared with the previous year, with three of those—the early 1980s, 1992, and 2009—being associated with global economic weakness. By contrast, the recent halt in emissions growth comes in a period of economic growth.”
Everyone can agree climate change is real but not everyone agrees whether it is an issue that needs solving. One side of the argument states that the rate of climate change is worrying and that this is caused by the mass burning of fossil fuels. Whatever a person 's stance on the topic is they both agree that mass use of fossil fuels are unsustainable. Research into renewable energy sources has been done at exponential rates every year. This research has led to the argument of which renewable source is the most effective. Two lead candidates for this spot is Wind and Hydropower. Each one of these sources has trade-offs when it comes to reliability, energy output, and environmental impact but both energy sources would work better together.
According to a recent International Renewable Energy Agency report, by 2025, the average cost of electricity from solar photovoltaics could drop another 59 per cent. Offshore wind and onshore wind could see decreases of 35 per cent and 26 per cent compared to 2015.
“The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits State Parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the premise that (a)
The IPCC Status Report on Climate Change Summary for Policymakers is an assessment of the current scientific understanding of the impacts of climate
The global population is increasing tremendously increasingly straining our remaining fossil fuels. According to Dr. Walter Reid, environmental research scientist the population has more than doubled since 1950 and is yet to reach its peak. Our population is growing beyond what our resources are capable of. Also the consummation of energy per-person has increased. In the U.S. an average home consumes over 10,000 kilowatt hours of electricity a year. That is roughly equal to the energy equivalent of 11,000 tons of coal. New cars in recent decades have become more efficient in fuel mileage most around mid 30 miles to the gallon. Creating more efficient vehicles means using more raw materials especially in producing batteries for hybrids. Some of though hybrids also need electricity to charge which is even more wasteful. In creating batteries, generating electricity, storing, and using it more power is lost
On December 12 of 2015, 195 countries made history by committing to the first truly global international climate change agreement (Paris Agreement, 2015). This agreement took place in Paris and was adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The outcome of the Paris Conference on Climate Change was described as “revolutionary” (Venezuela) “marvelous act” (China) and as “a tremendous collective achievement” (European Union) that introduced a “new era of global climate governance” (Egypt) while “restoring the global community’s faith of accomplishing things multilaterally” (USA) (Paris Agreement, 2015).