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01/07/2003
Energy report offers gloomy 2020 vision of Britain
By 2020, Britain will not be able to provide its own energy needs and will have to pipe in electricity, gas and oil from "politically unstable countries", according to a report published today by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE).
The ICE's ‘State of the Nation 2003’ survey claims that, within a generation, there will be an 80% shortfall in the country’s energy generation under current plans.
The bleak report also points to the "possibly cataclysmic effects" of becoming reliant upon unsecured fuel supplies – not to mention the problems associated with frequent energy blackouts.
ICE estimate that Britain's electricity needs are derived from 32% coal, 23% nuclear, 38% gas, 4% oil with 3% others and renewables. However, the agency claims that emission constraints will mean that the UK’s coal-powered generating plants will close shortly after 2016, and only one nuclear power station will remain operational beyond 2020.
The government's plan to set up gas-fired power stations also come under fire as it could see 90% of their supplies coming from "West Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Republics".
The report points to the government’s "failure to invest in maintaining and upgrading Britain’s nuclear power programme" as a major factor to its gloomy findings. It also slams current energy policy as lacking "both diversity and security of supply" - and calls for a mix of all types of fuel generation, including renewable sources like wind and wave power, nuclear and cleaner coal and gas-fired power stations.
Tom Foulkes, ICE Director General, said: “If future gas supplies were interrupted, this country would have major difficulty in keeping the lights on.
"Can the security of the UK’s gas supply be guaranteed, given that it will have to travel thousands of miles in a series of pipelines that are vulnerable to mechanical failure, sabotage and terrorist attack? What would happen then? Under current plans, with no gas, this country would have no electricity."
(GMcG)
The ICE's ‘State of the Nation 2003’ survey claims that, within a generation, there will be an 80% shortfall in the country’s energy generation under current plans.
The bleak report also points to the "possibly cataclysmic effects" of becoming reliant upon unsecured fuel supplies – not to mention the problems associated with frequent energy blackouts.
ICE estimate that Britain's electricity needs are derived from 32% coal, 23% nuclear, 38% gas, 4% oil with 3% others and renewables. However, the agency claims that emission constraints will mean that the UK’s coal-powered generating plants will close shortly after 2016, and only one nuclear power station will remain operational beyond 2020.
The government's plan to set up gas-fired power stations also come under fire as it could see 90% of their supplies coming from "West Africa, the Middle East and the former Soviet Republics".
The report points to the government’s "failure to invest in maintaining and upgrading Britain’s nuclear power programme" as a major factor to its gloomy findings. It also slams current energy policy as lacking "both diversity and security of supply" - and calls for a mix of all types of fuel generation, including renewable sources like wind and wave power, nuclear and cleaner coal and gas-fired power stations.
Tom Foulkes, ICE Director General, said: “If future gas supplies were interrupted, this country would have major difficulty in keeping the lights on.
"Can the security of the UK’s gas supply be guaranteed, given that it will have to travel thousands of miles in a series of pipelines that are vulnerable to mechanical failure, sabotage and terrorist attack? What would happen then? Under current plans, with no gas, this country would have no electricity."
(GMcG)
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