Section Menu

Fact & Figures

1. The UK contributes about 2% to global man-made emissions of CO² even though it only has 1% of the world's population. At present, about 6.5 billion tonnes of is emitted globally each year, mostly through burning coal, oil and gas for energy¹.
2. Greenhouse gases occur naturally, but human activity has increased their production and release into the environment. Greenhouse gases include: water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides (NO_x), ozone, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and sulphur hexafluoride (SF₆).
3. CO²emissions from UK power stations currently account for 29.5% of total CO²emissions².
4. The Government has set the following targets for how much of the UK’s electricity supply it would like renewable energy sources to provide:
   – 10 per cent by 2010
   – 20 per cent by 2020 (‘aspirational’ target).
5. Renewable energy plays a key part in the aim to reduce carbon emissions by 60 per cent by 2050. If 10 per cent of the UK’s energy in 2010 came from renewable sources, it could cut carbon emissions by 2.5 million tonnes a year.
6. The Scottish Executive has set a target of 18 per cent of Scotland’s power to come from renewable sources by 2010 and 40 per cent by 2020.
7. Renewable energy is the term used to describe energy flows that occur naturally and continuously in the environment, such as energy from the wind, waves or tides.
8. In 2003 renewable energy sources provided 2.7 per cent of the total electricity supplied in the UK (using the standard international definition which excludes non-biodegradable waste – source: ‘Digest of UK Energy Statistics’:

   – Biomass* = 1.55 per cent
   – Hydroelectric = 0.80 per cent
   – Wind = 0.30 per cent
   – Solar < 0.001 per cent
   – Total 2.7 per cent

   *This includes landfill gas and co-firing of biomass and energy from the biodegradable component of municipal waste.

9. In 2003 approximately 75 per cent of the UK’s electricity was generated from fossil fuel and just over 22 per cent from nuclear sources.
10. To meet the 10 per cent target by 2010, renewable energy sources will need to generate approximately an extra 10,000 megawatts. This is equivalent to between 3,000 and 5,000 wind turbines, or two hundred 50-megawatt biomass power stations.
11. It is estimated that wind will contribute around 7–8 per cent of the 2010 10 per cent target, but this can only be achieved using both onshore and offshore wind.
12. The British Wind Energy Association (BWEA) estimates that an extra 2,000 onshore turbines are needed to meet the onshore wind part of the 2010 target.
13. If hydro-power from all the UK’s rivers and streams could be tapped, it would meet just over 3 per cent of our total electricity needs.
14. In 2004, 10 new wind farm projects were commissioned, representing an additional 240 megawatts of capacity. A further 600 megawatts are currently being built and will be in operation by the end of 2005
15. The first large-scale offshore windfarm in the UK (at North Hoyle) was completed in November 2003. The second, at Scroby Sands off the coast of Norfolk, has been completed and is undergoing final testing, with a number of turbines already supplying electricity to the grid.
16. Wind energy costs have fallen by over 80 per cent over the last 20 years and there is further room for improvement.
17. Many renewable technologies are expected to become cost-competitive with fossil fuels over the next 10 to 20 years.
18. The Renewables Obligation is the Government’s main means of support for renewable energy. It requires all electricity suppliers in England and Wales to buy a proportion (which increases every year) of their energy from renewable sources. By 2010 the scheme will provide the industry with £1 billion of support a year.
19. Scotland has a similar Renewables Obligation scheme and another is due to start in Northern Ireland in 2005. The Renewables Obligation Certificates that these schemes issue will be valid in all three regions.
20. Renewable energy is exempt from the Climate Change Levy, which is a tax on fossil fuel-based, non-domestic energy use.
21. The Government will also support renewable energy with a programme of funding worth almost £500 million from 2002–08. This includes funding for R&D as well as capital grants for demonstration projects. Of this £500 million, £117 million has already been allocated to offshore wind; over £60 million to energy crops and biomass; £31 million to photovoltaics (PV); £12.5 million to community schemes; and £50 million to setting up a Marine Renewables Deployment Fund.
22. By 2020 the UK may need to import gas to provide up to 80 per cent of our energy needs (BWEA).
23. It is estimated that almost 8,000 people are involved in the UK renewables industry. There is the potential to create up to 35,000 jobs in the long term.
24. It is estimated that biomass fuel production alone will create around 385,000 jobs in the EU by 2020 (EC ALTENER study).
25. DTI surveys have shown that more than 90 per cent of the British public are in favour of renewable energy technologies, agreeing that ‘the Government should encourage the use of renewable energy’. When asked whether they would approve of a wind farm being developed in their area more than 67 per cent said yes. For those people who already had a wind farm within 5 kilometres of their homes, this increased to over 80 per cent.
26. Wind-generated waves on the surface of the world’s oceans have a total (estimated) power of 90 million gigawatts.
27. The action of the world’s tides provide approximately 3,000 gigawatts of energy, but only 2 per cent, or 60 gigawatts, can be recovered for electricity generation.

1. Defra - Energy Trends - March 2006 (http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/inform/energy_trends/mar_06.pdf)

2. Defra - Energy Trends - March 2006 (http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/inform/energy_trends/mar_06.pdf),