INTERNATIONAL ENERGY POLICY
Introduction 3
Situation 4
Problem 4
Solution 5
SWOT Analysis 6
Impact on UK’s Policy 8
Conclusion 9
References 11
Introduction
Finding the best kind of energy source to use is one of the most important parts of maintaining a community, let alone a whole country. Energy sources dictate the type of living that people will have to comply with. They also dictate the costs that both the public and the private sectors would have to spend on, particularly for continuous research and for building the necessary infrastructures. At an environmental and ecological level, energy sources dictate the amount of carbon footprint that a certain community or country would produce as a whole. This is why it is important that the government and other involved parties come up with the best possible and most suited energy source, not just for their people but for the earth as well.
Many public and private agencies in the United Kingdom have been conducting researches involving the different kinds of energy sources. Some of the most well-researched among these are offshore oil and gas and photovoltaic solar energy, the latter being a recent innovation in the field of energy sources (U.K. Ministry of Economy and Planning n.d.). The researches, studies, and explorations being done with regards to these sources have a lot of impact on the country, both in the aspect of providing energy for the citizens and in the process of policy-making. It is inevitable that they would influence, in more ways than one, the country’s policies, particularly its energy policies.
This paper aims to delve into the whole relationship between these two forces: the exploration of energy sources and the country’s energy policies. Because of the extreme differences in their nature, the three varying sources of energy will be treated separately. A SWOT analysis will be used to probe into the potentials and impact that these various researches have on the United Kingdom’s energy policy. As a part of this analysis, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the energy sources will also be touched upon. In the end, a conclusion will be made, summarizing the over-all influence that researches on energy sources have on the governing body of the United Kingdom.
Findings and Analysis
Situation
The United Kingdom is currently suffering from environmental problems, just as any other country is right now. Global warming and climate change are seriously affecting the condition of people everywhere. By 2100, it is predicted that the average world temperature will have risen by 1.8 to 5.8°C (Watson, Scrase and Stapleton 2011). Due to its huge global scale, this environmental issue is actually permeating into even the smallest communities. In the United Kingdom alone, there have been alarming threats to the lives of its citizens. The most obvious of all are natural disasters. These include storms, flooding, drought, and the alarming ecosystem changes. Moreover, one problem often creates another one — depicting the infamous domino effect. This is another example of that. All these natural disasters would inevitably have extremely severe consequences for the agriculture, industry, and economy of the United Kingdom (Gertrud 2009). The country will definitely endure millions of losses in money, jobs, and, worst of all, lives.
Problem
Ironically, the United Kingdom is actually partly to blame for finding itself in a situation like this. The UK is one of the most successful and more operative countries in the world, along with China and the United States of America. Unfortunately, this often means that the country is also emitting huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Excessive carbon emissions translate to a rise in global temperature. And a rise in global temperature is where all the environmental problems begin to snowball from. All these man-made emissions of carbon dioxide often occur because of the burning of fossil fuels. In addition to this, other greenhouse gases also cause major changes to the planet’s climate.
The United Kingdom’s significant use of offshore oil and gas for its source of energy is arguably contributing to this global problem. Being recognized internationally as the global leader in the production of offshore oil and gas, the United Kingdom has had its significant share in the production of greenhouse gases (HM Government 2013). After all, oil and gas extractions are two of the biggest sources of black carbon in the world. Not only this, the operations necessary to produce oil and gas can entail dangerous consequences.
Numerous explosions due to offshore drilling have already occurred in the past. These explosions in themselves are dangerous enough on their own, possibly killing on-site workers and certainly increasing methane emissions (HM Government 2013). To make things worse, these explosions eventually lead to spills and leaks. Oil spills endanger the world’s oceans, along with all the living creatures that habitate these bodies of water. All in all, it is clear that the United Kingdom has to find a way to provide sustainable and renewable energy for its people. But just as important, they must ensure that they reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and not endanger the natural environment along the way.
Solution
Now the United Kingdom has to find a way to help solve the harrowing environmental problem. The Kyoto Protocol has actually helped guide the country into the right direction. The protocol set legally binding targets for countries to follow in order to limit their atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. According to the Kyoto Protocol, the appropriate amount of greenhouse emissions is only up to a level where ecosystems would not be put in a dangerous position due to climate change. This is exactly what the United Kingdom is aiming to do. The country’s specific target is to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by the year 2050. Meeting this target is not exactly an easy thing to do. Fortunately, the United Kingdom has considered, studied, and are even currently using other sources of energy that would help them meet the target — possibly even exceeding it.
Although the United Kingdom has been lavishly using oil and gas as sources of energy throughout modern history, they have recently been focusing on another source of energy. According to studies, this kind of energy is much more environment-friendly compared to oil and gas. This is the photovoltaics solar energy. Photovoltaics are renewable sources of energy that convert the energy of light directly into electricity (Jardine and Lane 2003). Due to the increasing demand for less greenhouse gas emissions and less use of oil and gas, more corporations are looking into the potential that photovoltaic solar energy has.
SWOT Analysis
One of the biggest strengths that photovoltaics have is that they are made of the second most abundant element in the earth’s crust: silicon (International Renewable Energy Agency 2012). Most commonly found in sand, silicon is a semiconducting material that is simply perfect for the functions of photovoltaic devices. For its specific functions, the device works by producing electricity whenever light from the sun is shone on it. Obviously, the sunnier the weather, the more energy is produced. Fortunately, one of its strengths is that it is capable of still producing ample amounts of energy even under overcast conditions (Claverie 2003).
Another of its strengths is that it lasts up to 10-20 years. The latest models are even expected to last at least 25 years (DOE 2003). Its durability, along with its efficiency, surely makes photovoltaics an extremely appealing source of energy. In addition, it will lessen the costs incurred by the government and increase the profit gained by the private sectors. They wouldn’t have to worry about having to replace their devices every two years or so. With this energy source, the main spending that they have to worry about is the cost of operations. The cost of maintenance would not even be a concern because photovoltaic devices have no moving parts; hence, they require very little maintenance.
The biggest strength of all, however, is that photovoltaics are perceived to be the solution to the UK’s 2050 target. They produce no carbon dioxide within the duration of their operations (DOE 2003). As such, using photovoltaic solar energy would definitely decrease the over-all greenhouse gas emission of the United Kingdom. It would counterbalance all the emissions produced due to the offshore drillings for oil and gas. Furthermore, photovoltaics do not rely on fossil fuels (DOE 2003). This is an advantage to the United Kingdom, both environmentally and economically. For the environmental aspect, using photovoltaics will not require any form of fossil fuel burning, which is one of the most detested forms of producing energy among environmentalists. For the economic aspect, because photovoltaics are independent of fossil fuel, this means that they are also independent of the fluctuations in fossil fuel prices. They wouldn’t be affected by the increased fossil fuel prices and will not result in costs from the import of raw materials from other countries. Once again, photovoltaics would lessen the country’s over-all spending.
For its weaknesses and threats, photovoltaic solar energy is usually very dependent on a sunny weather. While it is still able to produce energy under overcast conditions, the amount of energy produced is still less than that produced during sunny conditions (DOE 2003). This is a huge drawback, especially considering that the weather in the United Kingdom is often cloudy. Another weakness for the photovoltaic energy source is that, aside from being dependent on the weather, it is also dependent on the location of its installation. According to the Solar Trade Association, the optimum placement of the photovoltaic device is south-facing, with a 30° incline from the horizontal (DOE 2003). This positioning is estimated to maximize the total solar radiation in the United Kingdom. In this regard, the photovoltaics that are positioned facing the east and the west would still yield enough energy, but it would be significantly lower compared to that produced by the photovoltaics facing south. On the other hand, north faces should be avoided altogether as it will not yield any notable amount of photovoltaic solar energy. Unfortunately, the country covers a lot of territory. As such, different locations with different access to the amount of sun exposure would entail different amounts of solar energy as well. This could pose as a threat to the photovoltaics as it can possibly lead to a huge discrepancy in the distribution of energy within the country.
The structure of the photovoltaic device is also moderately fragile, especially when it comes to shading. It is paramount that no other structures, such as nearby buildings or trees, cast shadows on the device. These include even the parts of the actual building where the device is installed, such as the chimneys, towers, or dormer windows. Once shadows are cast on the device, its performance would be diminished. Even if just one portion of the device is under shading, it could already affect the whole device. This is because the device is configured in strings. Each part of the string is connected to the rest of the strings (DOE 2003).
Impact on UK’s Policy
The Greenhouse Gases Emissions Trading Scheme, which was enacted by the government, directly addresses the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol. This trading scheme requires the submission of applications for all qualifying installations, undertaking activities that would emit greenhouse gases (Graser 2012). Operators of these installations are also required to notify the regulator of any changes in their annual activity levels. However, the most significant policy that the United Kingdom has enacted, which would later give way to the further exploration of photovoltaic solar energy, is the 2008 Climate Change Act (Pacak and Ciszek 2014). This act is seen as one of the most ambitious decarbonization policies in the world. It introduces carbon budgeting to the United Kingdom and ensures that the government is accountable for ensuring that the country stays on a sustainable path. A huge part of this policy is the set of measures included to support renewable sources of energy, one of which is the photovoltaics solar energy (English Heritage 2010).
Conclusion
Upon looking at the energy policies of the United Kingdom, it seems that they have a sound foundation for their decarbonisation efforts. This is because the country’s energy policies are heavily rooted on facts, studies, and researches done regarding different sources of energy and the methods used to procure them. Seeing that offshore oil and gas produce the most greenhouse gas emissions, it was only reasonable that the UK enacted numerous policies to ensure the monitoring and control of these activities. In addition to the policies that aim to improve weaknesses and thwart threats, they also have policies that reinforce strengths and maximize opportunities. This can be seen in the government’s full support of the wonderfully innovative and sustainable photovoltaic solar energy.
References
Claverie, A.,2003. A SWOT analysis of PV RTD in Europe. [online] Available at: http://www.netenergy.ch/pdf/PVECNETswot.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
English Heritage, 2010. Small scale solar electric (photovoltaics) energy and traditional buildings. [online] Available at: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/publications/small-scale-solar-electric-photovoltaics-energy/49357-solarelectric.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
European Commission, 2005. Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in energy research. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=302427439944923 [Accessed 24 October 2014]
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Jardine, C.N. and Lane, K., 2003. Photovoltaics in the UK: An introductory guide for new consumers. [online] Available at: http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/downloads/pv-inthe-uk.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
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U.K. Ministry of Economy and Planning., n.d. Strategic priorities for oil and gas technology program. [online] Available at: http://www.kacst.edu.sa/en/research/Documents/OilAndGas.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 2003. A consumer’s guide: Get your power from the sun. [online] Available at: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/35297.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
Watson, J., Scrase, I., and Stapleton, L., 2011. Transforming the UK’s energy system. [online] Available at: http://www.foe.co.uk/sites/default/files/downloads/transforming_uk_energy.pdf [Accessed 24 October 2014]
