• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Color Blind Energy: Whose Shade is the Real Green?

Posted on: Monday, 4 September 2006, 12:00 CDT

Last week members of an action group called Reclaim Power chained themselves to the gates of both nuclear and coal power stations to highlight the dangers of traditional power generation and the impact of climate change on the earth's environment. However, as long as other 'green' projects struggle for planning permission, closing these polluting plants is out of the question.

While their cause is clearly an important one, it is ironic that further north at the same time a number of councils have once again successfully blocked planning permission for an important link in the high voltage power distribution network. This would be needed if additional power from wind turbines in Scotland were to be brought to large cities and industrialized areas further south.

These combined actions highlight the challenge that the UK government is faced with when attempting to select, or incentivise, particular types of generation plant over others as different groups within the country have conflicting views on what constitutes green.

While it is generally accepted that renewable generators such as wind can safely make up a far greater percentage of generation capacity in the UK than they currently produce, it is also clear that the necessity of controllable, centralized base load generation cannot be overlooked unless a massive restructuring of existing energy network operations is undertaken.

Meanwhile, the call by many environmental lobby groups for more demanding targets on renewable energy is in contrast with the recommendations of groups dedicated to the protection of the rural countryside, who do not accept that pylons and large turbines need to be part of the solution. Currently power from renewable sources accounts for 4% of UK supply and the government has set a target to increase this to 20% by 2020 in its latest energy review.

Perhaps in the end the best environmental color is not green, but clear, with all parties in agreement that reducing consumption is a certain winner if this is able to be achieved either with a neutral or positive impact on economic growth and profitability. All the other colors are after all only in the eye of the beholder.

Source: Datamonitor

More News in this Category