Future of Fossil Fuels
Future of Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels produce global warming. What are the UK plans to replace them?
- Although there are six major groups of gases that contribute to Global Climate Change, the most common is Carbon Dioxide (CO2).
- Coal produces more Carbon Dioxide than any of the alternatives such as gas, and supplies of both are far from exhausted.ยท
- The UK has a Kyoto Protocol commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 12.5% below 1990 levels by 2008-12.
- UK has a national goal to move towards a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emission below 1990 levels by 2010. With current policies, our carbon dioxide emissions might have amounted to some 135 million tonnes of carbon (MtC) in 2020.
- To be on track for our longer-term goals, we will need to aim for cuts in carbon of 15-20 MtC below that level by 2020.
How can the CO2 targets be met? Are there alternative energy sources to fossil fuels?
- One of the ways to meet these goals is by increasing the use of renewable energy . However, renewable energy sources only provided 3% of the electricity generated in the UK in 2002a nd only 0.65% in the South East.
- The aim is to generate 10% of electricity from non-fossil fuel sources by 2010 and 20% by 2020.
