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Renewable energy
This windswept island nation has enormous wind, wave and tidal power: more than enough to meet all of our energy needs many times over.
We could, and should, be global leaders in the field of renewables.
We could be reaping huge benefits from harnessing our indigenous energy sources, which use no fuel and will never run out.
We could be reaping industrial and economic advantages by being at the forefront of the fastest growing new technologies.
The total value, globally, of new wind power installed in 2006 was £12 billion - and the industry grows by an astounding 30 per cent or more a year (pdf). But the UK is only seizing a small percentage of that market, and we're being left behind. Germany, Denmark, the US, Italy, Spain, China and India all have more wind capacity than us. Canada, France and Portugal are at about the same level or slightly less but, last year, they all grew faster than us.
To date, our government has largely bungled the development of renewable technologies. They've been held back and undermined by weak policy, indecision, obstacles and the threat of nuclear power. When heat and transport energy is included, the UK ranks near the bottom of the EU league table for renewables development. Only Belgium, Cyprus and Malta are worse.
With proper support, renewables can - and must - form the heart of our energy system. A look at what's possible makes this clear:
Wind power
Ocean power
Conclusion
Wind power
Wind power is a large-scale, reliable source of power that's already having a major positive impact; it provides enough electricity to supply 1.2 million UK homes every year. But we've barely scratched the surface.
Despite the fact that our wind is stronger and more constant than theirs, Germany has built more than ten times our wind farm capacity. Spain has built over five times more than we have, in just a few years (pdf).
There's a simple reason why the UK is falling behind: political failure.
For example, right now, wind farms that could provide five times the capacity of the ones we already have are stuck in the planning system (pdf). The time taken to get approval is growing and the proportion of successful applications is falling. This disastrous policy failure isn't just undermining the long term future of wind power in the UK; it's also endangering our renewable energy and CO2 targets. New research shows that we'll miss our 2010 renewable energy target unless planning decisions are speeded up.
Once approved, a wind farm doesn't take long to build, so the projects stuck in planning could give us a quick and substantial leap forward in renewable capacity - adding 7.5 per cent of our total electricity supply at a stroke.
Offshore wind farms like the London Array are planned on a scale that will generate the equivalent of the electricity needs for 750,000 homes. Some more recently conceived projects are even bigger, with a predicted output from one such offshore wind farm being about the same as the output from a typical nuclear power station.
Between onshore and offshore wind, the long term potential for wind power in the UK is enormous. Government figures suggest that more than a quarter of today's electricity consumption could be provided by wind power by 2025 - and that to do it would be both economic and practical.
Ocean power - wave and tidal
As an island nation, we've always relied on the ocean around us for food, travel, trade and protection. Now it's providing us with clean energy too. The waves crashing onto our western shores carry the power of the Atlantic behind them. The great inlets, firths and channels around our coast have some of the highest tidal ranges and strongest currents in the world.
The power in the seas is vast - and wave and tidal power is at an innovation stage. It's an opportunity we can't afford to let slip.
Despite the lack of government support, some exciting progress has been made by pioneering UK companies and researchers (see these wave power and tidal power developers, for example). The world's first commercial wave power generator is on Islay, in the Western Isles of Scotland. There are plans for a harbour wall wave power scheme on Lewis. The Orkney Isles has a hugely important test centre for wave and tidal machines.
At the other end of the UK, the mighty Bristol Channel alone has enough tidal energy potential to power the whole of Wales. A new tidal stream generator - an underwater turbine powered by the streams of the tidal current - off the Devon coast is one of a number of developments helping to drive forward tidal power development. Meanwhile, plans are near completion for what will become the world's largest wave power array, the Wavehub, to be sited off the coast of Cornwall.
According to government and industry figures (pdf), wave and tidal power combined could meet 12.5 per cent of today's electricity demand - economically and practically - by 2025.
Conclusion
Between them, wind, wave and tidal power could deliver more than twice as much electricity than the new fleet of nuclear reactors being debated - and the renewables would be built more quickly.
Even then, the full potential of these sources would not have been tapped - much more could be harnessed in the future. But we have to start now if we're going to end our dependence on fossil fuels and reduce emissions. Ambitious support for renewables will bring benefits - not just of clean, fuel-free energy, but the jobs and economic growth that come from pioneering new industries and technology.
The Convenient Solution | Efficiency | Combined heat and power | Case studies | Nuclear power | References and sources