Global Warming

Climate Change

Sustainable Development

Economic Development & Security of Supply

International Policy

UK National energy Policy

Scottish Renewable Energy Policy

Environmental Benefits of Wind Energy

Socio-Economic Benefits

Within the global community, it is now widely accepted that climate change is one of the most significant threats confronting the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) estimate that by the end of this century, in the absence of mitigation measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the earth's temperature could increase by 1-3.50 degrees Centigrade. The implication would be that a rate of global temperature increase may occur which is greater than any other similar period since the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. As a consequence, significant impacts may occur to global sea levels, water supply and agriculture.

This global environmental concern has resulted from the combustion of fossil fuels in energy generation. The principal environmental impact from the burning of fossil fuels is the build up of what are known as 'greenhouse gases' and 'acid rain gases.' Greenhouse gases absorb infrared radiation emanating from the earth's surface thereby trapping the sun's heat in our atmosphere like a blanket, thus causing a warming effect.

Of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is by far the most significant due to its much greater relative abundance. Approximately 85% of global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are derived from fossil fuel burning, and it is estimated to be responsible for around 50% of the total 'climate forcing' in the 1980s. Energy generation was one of the fastest growing industrial sectors in the 20th century, with the generation of electricity being one of the main CO2 emission sources from the burning of fossil fuels. Both the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the World Energy Council (WEC) forecast substantial increases in global energy consumption of 40% by 2010, rising to 400% by 2050.

About 70% of the electricity supply in the UK is generated by fossil fuel power stations i.e. coal, oil and natural gas, with around 25% being generated from nuclear energy. Current levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are about a third higher than they were before the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century.

Climate change is starting to have far reaching effects on all aspects of the world's environment, economy, society and health. If significant action is not undertaken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the negative effects of global warming are likely to be seen in:

» Changing weather patterns with an increase in some areas of more extreme conditions, with potential property damage and loss of life;

» Shrinking icecaps and a move of climate zones pole wards;

» Pressure on existing sensitive habitats, and the possibility of significant species extinctions;

» Millions of people and many of the world's great cities and communities becoming increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding as sea levels rise;

» Interruption of farming practices, such as increased frequency and magnitude of drought, pestilence, soil erosion and infertility;

» Increased risk of diseases such as malaria

The UK Climate Change Impacts Review Group has estimated the predicted changes in climate imply a northward shift of natural habitats, wildlife species and farming zones of 200-300km per degree C of warming or 50 - 80km per decade. Therefore, within the UK climate forcing may have the following implications:

» Extremes in weather noted over the last decade are likely to become the norm, with dry areas becoming drier and wet areas wetter;

» Increased bouts of flooding to communities, with significant economic cost and personal loss;

» Increased coastal erosion, posing greater flooding threat to coastal townships and loss of rare habitats;

» Due to habitat changes, within 50 years, the species composition of about half of the statutory protected areas in the UK may alter significantly. A substantial proportion of the 506 currently endangered species in the UK may be lost due to invasion of habitats by new competitive species;

» The RSPB has stated "Global Warming has huge implications for birds… wildlife will find it difficult to adapt…. Rising sea levels would be catastrophic for wading birds and wildfowl which depend upon estuaries in Northwest Europe".

Along with many other nations of the world, the UK Government has responded in a positive manner to tackling the threat of climate change. Since the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the UK has adopted a range of policies and economic instruments aimed at reducing current emissions of all greenhouse gases to their 1990 levels and encouraging greater uptake of renewable energy.

Sustainable Development is a term that gained prominence following the 1992 Earth Summit. It was defined by the Brundtland Report as "development which meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs". 'Agenda 21' - the voluntary global action plan for the 21st century - was designed to deliver sustainable development. Since 1992, all energy and planning policies implemented in the UK have been significantly influenced by the philosophy of sustainable development.

Energy markets both within the UK and worldwide are in transition. In the past 20 years the coal and oil share of electricity generating capacity in the UK has halved, and gas usage has significantly increased. In the longer term the decline in UK fossil fuels, will leave the country more dependent on imports. This may be particularly so with gas, where future supplies are likely to be more dependent on Eastern Europe and Russia. The Government estimate that the country could become a net importer of energy by 2010.

The Government announced in July 2001 a review of long-term energy objectives and opportunities for supply, which focused on the role renewable energy could play in maintaining a secure, indigenous and diverse supply of energy. The recent Energy White Paper (February 2003) 'Our Energy Future - Creating a Low Carbon Economy' reaffirmed the desire to be less dependent on imported supply for our primary energy needs, stating that increasing current import dependency will add to energy costs and effect the country's' security and reliability of supply. Renewable energy will therefore have a major part to play in helping the UK to avoid over dependence on imports.

The White Paper also notes that domestic energy consumption is continually increasing and that many existing power stations are approaching the end of their effective operational life, and will soon require decommissioning. As such, replacement energy generation sources will be required for these increasing numbers of closing facilities.

The renewable energy industry employs about 3500 people in more than 700 companies in the UK. There is the potential, over the medium term, for the creation of between 10,000 and 45,000 new jobs in this sector according to the Department of Trade and Industry. Many of these new jobs would be in manufacturing and in rural areas. Planning, designing, manufacturing and the delivery of these new technologies presents a major economic opportunity, not only within the UK, but also in terms of export potential.

At the 'Earth Summit' in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 nearly all nations signed the Framework Convention on Climate Change, ratified in 1993, (also known as the 'Rio Declaration' and 'Climate Change Convention') and agreed on Agenda 21(A21). The outcome was a mandate to tackle the global environmental problems by changing the patterns of consumption and production on all levels, locally and globally. The Climate Change Convention placed an obligation on a number of countries, including the UK, to bring about a reduction in Green House Gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000.

In 1996, the European Union (EU) Parliament called for the contribution from renewable sources to be doubled to provide 12% of European energy by 2010. The 1998 White Paper 'Energy for the Future: Renewable Sources of Energy' was an action plan that identified contributions from the various European renewable energy sectors.

In Kyoto in December 1997 the developed countries agreed to a legally binding target of reducing the emissions from the six main GHGs by 5.2% below 1990 levels over the period 2008-2012. In response, the EU and its member states agreed a more ambitious reduction target of 8%. In June 1998, the EU member states agreed to share out this 8% target, with the UK government agreeing to reduce its emissions by 12.5%.

Further to the Kyoto and EU commitments, the UK, through its 'Climate Change Programme' (CCP), set a common domestic goal of a 20% cut in CO2 emissions below 1990 levels by 2010. This is a voluntary increase on the mandatory target of 12.5% reduction. The CCP includes the following policy actions and objectives:

» Exemption of renewable energy (RE) generated electricity and heat from the CCL, to encourage industry to invest in renewables and low carbon emitting technologies;

» Development of a regional strategic approach and targets for renewable energy;

» Changes to the planning system that will mirror the aims and objectives of the Climate Change Programme, and in turn influence RE development trends.

In February 2000, the UK Government announced its New & Renewable Energy Strategy with the publication of 'New and Renewable Energy: prospects for the 21st century: Conclusions in response to the Public Consultation'. The main thrust of the document proposed an obligation on all electricity suppliers to provide an increasing proportion of their supply from renewable sources, with 5% by 2003 and rising to 10% by 2010. Within this target the UK government anticipates onshore wind power to generate "2.6% of the UK's total electricity supply by 2010, or 3,250 MW". Currently about 2.8% of total electricity generated within the UK is sourced from renewable energy.

In terms of the planning system, the UK Governments new renewable energy strategy states there should be " a positive strategic approach to planning for renewable energy, including targets for renewable energy, from the regional level downward to facilitate its development".

To achieve the 2010 target, and taking account of the predicted growth in UK electricity demand, the production of electricity from renewable sources will need to increase from around 9.4 Terawatt hours (TWh) in 2003/4 to 33.6 Terawatt hours in 2010/11. This is likely to require more than 500MW of wind generation capacity to be installed each year in the UK for the next seven years. The drive behind this development of onshore wind power is via economic policy in the form of the Climate Change Levy (CCL) and Renewables Obligation (RO).

In October 2000, the Government set out its working framework for achieving more renewable sources of electricity in the UK. The Renewables Obligation, Preliminary Consultation document indicated that increasing the uptake of renewable energy has to be a non-negotiable element of future energy use. The strategy document re-affirmed the Government's 2010 target, thus providing a guaranteed market for renewable energy. Under the Utilities Act 2000,the RO will be the principle mechanism by which the UK reaches its targets for renewable energy and will be the cornerstone of 'climate friendly' energy policy in the UK until 2027. The RO requires suppliers to supply an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources, with 5% by 2003, rising to 10% by 2010. The UK Government intends to double the 2010 target, whereupon 20% of UK electricity generation will be sourced from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The DTI energy white paper 'Options for a low carbon future' (2003) has proposed a 60% reduction target of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2050. This will possibly require more than 40% of UK electricity generation to be sourced from RE, and subsequently will necessitate significant changes to our institutions and systems.

As part of the UK Climate Change Programme, the Scottish Executive stated that the Scottish Climate Change Programme would lift the target for the use of renewable energy in Scotland from the existing 12% to around 18% by 2010. This increase is similar in scale to the UK target as a whole, and would require new renewable energy build in Scotland of around 1000MW. Currently, around 11% of electricity demand in Scotland is supplied by large-scale hydropower.

A recent Scottish Renewable Study states Scotland in itself has the potential to supply up to 30% of the UK's total electricity supply from renewable energy.

The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) commenced in April 2002. As with the RO for England & Wales, the RO (Scotland) also places an obligation on all suppliers of electricity to purchase a proportion of renewable energy for the period 2003 to 2010, subject to costs to the consumers being acceptable. This is based on the premise that in Scotland renewable energy will supply 13% of all electricity supplied by 2003, increasing to 18% by 2010. The Scottish Executive is in the process of adopting a goal of achieving a renewable energy contribution of 40% to total electricity demand by 2020.

A typical 20MW wind farm could produce in the region of 55,000 MWh of electricity annually, depending on turbine and site characteristics. Every unit of electricity produced by wind energy displaces a unit of electricity which would otherwise have been produced by a power station burning fossil fuel. Using the British Wind Energy Association emission figures for coal-fired plant it is estimated that such a wind farm could displace the following gaseous emissions which would otherwise have been produced by a power station burning fossil fuel:-

» 45,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) per annum;

» 525 tonnes of sulphur dioxide (SO2) per annum;

» 158 tonnes of nitrogen oxides (NOx) per annum;

Over a typical 25-year project lifetime, carbon dioxide emission savings alone could amount to over 1,000,000 tonnes.

Emissions associated with the manufacture and construction of wind turbines are relatively insignificant. Indeed, the average wind development in the UK will payback the energy used in its manufacture within 6 months of operation.

Utilising updated figures of average UK household electricity consumption of 4,345kWh per annum, a typical 20MW wind farm would produce sufficient electricity to supply the average annual domestic electricity needs of approximately 12,500 homes.

The construction of any wind farm represents a significant investment, often in relatively remote rural locations. The provision of site facilities, concrete foundations and access roads together with general civil engineering and technical services can benefit local companies, contractors and their employees. Experience indicates that about 30% of the total value of the wind farm contracts will be available for tender by local companies. This figure may rise as a turbine assembly and manufacturing based is established in Scotland and construction experience is gained. Additional indirect expenditure in local shops, service stations etc is also expected.

In terms of effects on tourism, actual experience to date in the UK shows that wind energy developments can have a positive effect, as the following examples indicate:

» At the Delabole Wind Farm in Cornwall, visitor numbers were between 25,000 to 30,000 in 2000, and are set to increase to 100,000, with the recent opening of the new Gaia centre for Renewable Energy Education at the site;

» The "Swaffham Experience" in Norfolk (a viewing platform and Eco-Centre) received 25,000 visitors in its first year;

» The Centre for Alternative Technology near Machynlleth in North Wales, which has seen a doubling of visitors in the last three years;

The presence of wind farms in the top beauty spots of Scotland made no difference to the enjoyment of most tourist holidays according to a poll conducted by MORI Scotland (2002).