Uncertainties Of Future Energy Supplies Demand Increased Accountability Now

Nov. 5, 2014 - PRLog -- Energy supply to our homes and businesses is vital and the security of delivery is critical. Importing energy, at a level not seen since the 70s, makes us massively dependent on volatile overseas markets, ensuring continuing price hikes and a vulnerable supply.

The answer of course is to become more self-sufficient in our energy supply through increased investment in renewable energy and more efficient technology. But companies have been hesitant to invest in the big projects. Politics, changing legislation and varying market strategies lend themselves to short term reactions whilst the bigger long term picture of where the UK’s energy supply will come from in the future has created uncertainty and therefore an unwillingness to commit to long term investment.  Predicting the future for energy is a controversial area with varying opinions but most will agree that relying on fuel imports to provide the UK with heat and electricity is undesirable.

According to The Department of Energy & Climate Change, electricity consumption by household domestic appliances rose by about 1.7% per year, between 1970 and 2013. In the same period the electricity consumed by consumer electronics rose by 377%, sparked by the IT revolution and social technology trends. Our hunger for the internet, data access and storage has already seen spiralling data centre power demands. With the UK’s rising population and increasing levels of income per head, demand for electrical consumption looks set to continue. We can easily predict a future more and more dependent on electricity – heat and transport in particular. Electric cars, by themselves, would dramatically alter the demand required and exacerbate the daily energy peaks and troughs that the Government predict are “likely to become extreme”.

So where do we get this extra electricity supply from if we are not to rely on imports? Oil and gas are becoming increasingly more costly, and our own supplies are fast in decline – The Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University report our gas supplies could be used within three years and coal and oil by the end of the decade. Investing in unconventional fossil fuels such as shale gas is one option and renewable energy such as solar and wind power, for example, another. But for all the support received for these options and others comes opposition as well. Perhaps a likely scenario is a combination of existing and new energy sources but the uncertainties that arise from the future of UK energy supply understandably explain why investors have been apprehensive.

What can be done to turn this around?  The Government is starting to encourage action. The UK has committed to reducing its carbon footprint and to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2025. To ensure they hit their targets, the Government wants a new energy generation infrastructure and has announced from October this year, “renewable energy projects will compete for a budget of over £200 million a year as part of the Government reforms to the electricity market”.

Perhaps the important point though, and one that is unfortunately often overlooked, is the most simple. As consumers, we have to hold ourselves more accountable now to safeguard our future energy supply and become more conscientious about the resources that we already use. Using only what we need to when we need to will reduce risk and cost.  Essentially, businesses and industry have to become smarter and  prioritise accurate and precise monitoring of their energy usage with the involvement of senior management and the board. Only through monitoring can they measure how, when and where energy is being used. In doing so, they can pinpoint unusual activity, be alerted to critical failure and highlight inefficiency and waste. Only through increased monitoring will UK businesses really understand how they can manage their energy usage effectively and thus be able to forward plan accordingly.

Energy issues won’t go away if we are inert and ignore them and neither will a future energy crisis.  We must start to take responsibilities for our actions and in doing so, by becoming more energy efficient, we will find cost efficiencies improve as well. There is always a silver lining....