Is Renewable Energy Used At The Moment?
In 2003, approximately 2.7 per cent of the total amount of electricity in the UK came from renewable sources.
In April 2002, the Government introduced the Renewables Obligation, which requires all electricity suppliers in England and Wales to supply an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources.
There are lots of areas in the UK that already have ”wind farms’ with turbines producing electricity. Other renewable systems include:
- Woking Borough Council uses a combined heat and power (CHP) system – or fuel cell – which means that it produces both electricity and useable heat energy. The system has been working since December 2001 to supply heat and power to Woking Park.
- On the Scottish Island of Islay, a project has been in operation since 2004 to use wave power. Called LIMPET (Land Installed Marine Powered Energy Transformer), it is the only fully operational wave power project in the UK that supplies electricity to the National Grid.
By using renewables and actively encouraging the use, we can all help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases being pumped into our atmosphere and, therefore, make inroads into reducing climate change.