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UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has issued latest report how Britain has failed to reach its renewable energy targets. There were lots of talks in Britain about the necessity to revive renewable energy sector but in the end this hasn't resulted in anything except disappointments. The internal UK forecasts show that by 2020 the UK will be getting only 5% of its total energy from renewables, far short of the 15% target that UK signed up to with the European Commission.
This data shows that UK's government is still miles away from turning Great Britain into respectable renewable energy force. It also shows that UK must make quick changes to its energy policy because in the past decade government lacked a credible and comprehensive energy policy. Some other countries, with less available funds than Britain, are doing much bigger changes in renewable energy sector, so it is really a shame that UK still fails to follow renewable path.
When we look at the current EU data we could see that today Britain is one of the worst performers in Europe in terms of renewable energy, getting only 2% of its needs from non-fossil fuel sources, which could turn out to be a real setback if Britain signs new Kyoto protocol later this year in December.
The prime minister has called couple of times for a “green revolution” not only to boost renewable energy sector but also to revitalize falling economy but this looks to be very far away from current point of view.
Though the government introduced subsidies for biomass and wind generation, fears that these projects are uneconomic still remain among many top industry players in sector.
This is really no surprise because industry still hasn't see any major reason that would attract big players to renewable energy sector, and without big players involved 15% from renewables is really a dream land.
Still the government hopes that very soon large portions of renewable energy will come from wind, followed by hydro power, biomass and sewage processing, and is still not giving up on its mid term renewable energy targets.
But hope without adequate energy policy, appropriate infrastructure and necessary funding definitely won't be enough, and UK's "green revolution" will have to wait better days. It will be very interesting to see later this year in Copenhagen what cut in greenhouse gas emissions will UK propose. Given UK's total dominance of fossil fuels in satisfying energy demands, it is expected to be some small cut, not bigger than 15%. But even 15% cut in greenhouse gas emissions is currently too big goal for Britain, and Britain's government has its work cut out if we are about to see green revolution in Britain.
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