UK actively engaged in the elimination of carbon emissions abroad
September 18, 2006 at 2:28 am
The UK is one of the strongest supporters of the implementation of the Kyoto protocol, which calls for the reduction of greenhouse gasses by half by 2010. As an industrial and developed country, the UK emits 2% of the global greenhouse gasses. This is a pretty good record bearing in mind that countries like the USA are responsible for 21% of global emissions.
However, the biggest threat for global greenhouse gas emissions is posed by the rapidly developing emerging economies, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa. As developing countries they are exempt at large from the regulations applicable to industrialised nations, because the West understands their pressing need to develop their standard of living. In our globalised and interdependent world this translates to hunger for energy, electricity, telecommunications and transport.
The UK is pioneering a new initiative, the Sustainable Development Dialogues with the above mentioned emerging economies. This initiative is a platform for exchange of ideas and technologies aiming to promote sustainable development without impacting negatively on the quality of life of future generations in these countries. The UK Environment Secretary, David Miliband, highlighted in his blog for Defra, his meeting with his Chinese counterpart in London on the 13th of September, to promote, among others things, a Zero Emissions Coal project. This project demonstrated to the Chinese how to capture polluting emissions from electricity plants and store them underground, instead of releasing them to the atmosphere.
It is worth pointing out that China generates 70% of its electricity from coal, and as its economy grows annually by almost 10%, it needs to increase electricity production, while minimising the adverse effects of coal burning to its rivers and water basins.
This is one of the positive steps undertaken to promote the UK’s international leadership in tackling pressing global environmental problems.
Sweden Plans to be free from Oil Dependency by 2020
September 5, 2006 at 3:03 am
Sweden has seen its energy production come under much scrutiny recently. Only a month ago the country experienced a scare at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant. The failure of two out of four emergency generators prompted questions about the safety and reliability of Nuclear Power. One former Forsmark worker claimed that ‘it was sheer luck that this didn’t lead to catastrophe’ (www.upi.com), although the plant has denied that there was any risk of the situation becoming more serious. The incident was a particular worry across Europe, as other nations fear that their nuclear facilities are no safer than those at Forsmark.
This scare follows complex debate in Sweden about the future of their energy production. The country had planned to be free of nuclear energy by 2010, however, problems with other resources, such as the 1998 decision to cease further construction of hydroelectric power stations due to water resource depletion concerns, have meant that this date has been continually pushed back. Similarly, public and political opinion is divided about the merits of reducing nuclear production, many fearing that Sweden’s ‘international competitiveness’ (en.wikipedia.org) could be compromised.
Nevertheless, the country is taking the future very seriously. In August the Swedish Commission on Oil Independence published a report detailing plans to be free from dependency upon oil and fossil fuels by 2020. The report centres around three main objectives: to increase fuel efficiency and cut the use of oil for transport by 40%, to have industry reduce its oil consumption by 25-40%, and to completely stop the use of oil for residential and commercial heating, by 2020.
Their objectives may seem ambitious, and the report acknowledges this, but their plans are convincing. They aim to achieve their aims by promoting intellectual and financial investment in ‘hybrid vehicles, solar cells, wave-energy, new biofuels, and energy saving IT solutions’. The use of biomass energy is particularly emphasised for the production of electricity, and for use in heating and transport. Sweden has proven it can see results, in the last 30 years their use of oil for heating has been reduced by 70%, and the Swedish government is investing 30 Million Krona every year into researching hydrogen gas technology, which has great potential for use as an alternative energy source in cars.
Whether they make their 2020 target or not, Sweden is taking significant steps in the right direction.
