The Need
Climate Change
Climate change is caused by increasing volumes of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, notably Carbon Dioxide, from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation, manufacturing and electricity generation. Therefore renewable energy which does not produce Carbon Dioxide as a by-product of electricity generation is part of the solution to reducing the extent of Climate Change.
Security of energy supply
The United Kingdom is becoming a net importer of natural gas, due to the lower levels of production in the North Sea and an increase in natural gas demand. We also import other fuels such as oil, coal and uranium for our nuclear power stations. However we are not the only country to require oil, gas, coal and uranium. An increasing global demand for such fuels, means that areas of the world that have fuel reserves will have an increasing amount of countries wishing to purchase these fuels from them, driving up prices. This coupled with the geographical distance of the UK from such reserves means our supply of oil, gas, coal and uranium could potentially be interrupted, creating economic hardship in the UK. Therefore locally produced renewable energy is part of the solution to decrease reliance on overseas oil, gas, coal and uranium.
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