Trends in Energy Resource Use

• Over time, the type of energy sources we use change. There are lost of reasons for this: breakthroughs in technology, understanding more about how they affect the environment or changes in cost...
• Currently we still depend of fossil fuels
• Over the 20th century, the electricity use of the UK hugely increased as the population grew and people beagan to use electricity for more and more things
• Since the beginning of the 21st century, electricity use in the UK has been decreasing (slowly), as we get better at making appliences more efficient and become more careful with energy use in our homes
• Some of our electricity is produced using fossil fuels and from nuclear power
• Generating electricity isn't the only reason we burn fossil fuels - oil (diesel and petrol) is used to fuel cars, and gas is used to heat homes and cook food
• However, we are trying to increase our use of renewable energy resources. This move towards renewable energy resources has been triggered by many things
• People want to use more renewable energy sources
• We know that burning fossil fuels is very damaging to the environment. This makes many people want to use more renewable energy resources that affect the environment less
• People and governments are also becoming increasingly aware that non-renewables will run out one day
• Many people think it's better to learn to get by without non-renewables before this happens
• Pressure from other countries and the public has meant governments have begun to introduce targets for using renewable resources. This in turn puts pressure on energy providers to build new power plants that use renewable resources to make sure they don't lose business and money
• Car companies have also been affected by this change in attitude towards the environment. Electric cars and hybrids (cars powered by 2 fuels e.g. petrol and electricity) are already on the market and their popularity is increasing
• The use of renewables is limited by reliability, money and politics
• There's a lot of scientific evidence supporting renewables, but although scientists can give advice, they don't have the power to make people, companies or governments change their behaviour
• Building new renewable power plants costs money, so some energy providers are reluctant to do this especially when fossil fuels are so cost effective
• The cost of switching to renewable power will have to be payed, either by customers in their bills, or through government and taxes
• Some people don't want to or can't afford to pay, and there are arguments whether it's ethical to pay them
• Even if new power plants are built, there are arguments over where to put them. E.g. many people don't want to live next to a wind farm, causing protests
• There are arguments over whether it's ethical to make people put up with wind farms built next to them when they may not agree with the reasons for their use
• Sone energy resources like wind power are not as reliable as traditional fossil fuels , whilst others cannot increase their power output on demand
• As wind power is less reliable than traditional fuels, this could mean either having to use a combination of different power plants (which would be expensive) or researching ways to improve reliability
• Research on improving the reliability and cost of renewables takes time and money - it may be years before improvements are made even with funding. Until then, we need dependable, non-renewable power
• Making perosnal changes can also be quite expensive
• Hybrid cars are generally more expensive than equivalent petrol cars and things like solar panels for your home are still quite pricey. The cost of these things is slowly going down, but they are still not an option for many people