This week the UK will see a £100 billion renewable energy strategy unveiled. Yes that is £100 billion. The EU has set targets for its member states to reach 15% of their energy consumption to be generated by renewable sources by 2020. As part of this is government is to build 3,500 onshore wind turbines and 7,000 offshore wind turbines.
For homeowners who generate their own power there are plans to allow them to sell surplus power to the national grid for a premium price. What an incentive to get people to install renewable energy sources into their homes! Although there is a large initial outlay in costs for the installation of renewable energy, eventually huge savings are made and if you can sell back surplus you may even make a profit! Good news for the planet.
However, the government still aren’t doing enough in terms of grants for installing renewable energy sources such as solar panels. Installation of solar panels cost between £5000 and £10000 which is beyond the reach of most homeowners no matter how eco-friendly they may want to be. If the government can not offer bigger incentives it will be difficult for them to reach the targets set by the EU.
On the plus side of the green energy revolution using renewable sources of energy would result in a 5% drop in oil use by 2020. This would significantly reduce the UKs carbon footprint. Another positive, as pointed out by Greenpeace, is that this would make the UK more self-sufficient in terms of energy production as we would be less reliant on foreign countries. Our energy bills would also come down in price in the long term which I think we would all agree is needed!
It would seem that the UK government has held back or as long as possible to look into renewable energy sources. If investment had been put in ten years ago we would not be in the position we are now of huge increases in our fuel and energy bills. You have to admit that it is not a surprise that fossil fuels have gone up in price as reserves run low and countries develop. The fact that stores of fossil fuels will not last forever is not exactly a new concept. So why has the government taken so long to act?
Long live the green energy revolution! It has been a long time coming but things are gradually turning in a green direction. For those of us who can not afford our own solar panels check out the Green Energy page and have a look at what energy companies are doing to go greener. There is a list of companies that are offsetting their carbon footprints alongside those who are using 100% renewable energy sources. If we all sign up to one of these tariffs we could make a huge difference to our carbon footprints.
Click here to go to the page.
