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2. Renewables over 5%?
The UK Renewable Power
Association's latest yearbook claims that renewable generation
in the year ending 31 March 2004 accounted for 4.8% (15.5TWh) of
licensed electricity sales and, in the current year, this figure
is projected to increase to 5.3% of UK
electricity. Hydro accounted for 37%, biogas 21%, energy-from-waste
20%, wind 9% and other biomass 5%. About 40% of the UK’s
renewable generation came from Scotland.
However, not everyone is convinced that things are going to plan-
indeed according to the government statistics, last year electricity
generated from renewable sources actually
fell from 3% to 2.7%, due to a fall in hydro because of last summer’s
dry weather. And energy consumption in the UK
rose by 1.5%- consumption by domestic consumers increased by 17.5%
from 1990 to 2003. Prof Ian Fells, claimed that ‘We
will get to 6% renewables by 2010 if we’re lucky,’ and that
it was “wishful thinking” to suppose that we would reach
the governments 10% by 2010 target. He added that the UK
would also need more nuclear power stations to meet the increasing
energy demand.
* Cambridge Econometrics have claimed that,
while the UK may be able to cut emissions by 12.5% between 1990
and 2012, in line with its Kyoto requirements, it will miss its
more ambitious unilateral target of 20% cut in CO2 emissions by
2010 ‘by a wide margin’, due to increases in emissions by homes,
aircraft and road vehicles. The report’s co-editor, Prof. Paul
Ekins of the Policy Studies Institute, said that warning lights
were “flashing amber”. Emissions from road transport were expected
to be 14% higher in 2010 than in 1990,
with household emissions up by as much as 21%.
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