Wind Farm Development in the United Kingdom Essay

Wind Farm Development in the United Kingdom - Essay Example This research will begin with the history of wind farm development in the United Kingdom. Wind farm development in the United Kingdom owes its influence to a few litigations. Among them is the Kyoto Protocol, which legally binds, the United Kingdom to its treaty of reducing greenhouse gases emission. There are a number of recommendations the treaty offers to this effect, but the United Kingdom has made significant steps in energy harnessing from the sun, water and wind. By the beginning of 2012, United Kingdom had the capacity of producing close to 1000 mega watts worth of solar energy. Meanwhile, water mainly generates hydroelectric power with estimated potentials of 5000Gkh. The other factor is the situation in MENA countries. Fossil fuels are the most widely used sources of fuel even in the United Kingdom. The Middle East and Northern African countries are the greatest producers of oil in the world but at the same time prone to political and economic instability. In this regard, w hatever economic or civil situation purges MENA countries, affects the state of oil production. A good example of political instability is the recent rebellion of citizens against dictator leaders in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia. This makes relying on fossil fuels such as oil and biogas tricky. Then, there is the fact that use of fossil fuel leads to production of green house gases reducing the use of oil even further. The United Kingdom sees the need to find a source of fuel that is reliable – not dependant on factors such as political instability, non pollutant and easy to produce. ... Since there got some progress in wind farms establishment and subsequent production of wind energy, a lot had to be done (Mackay 2009, p. 79). The year 2009 saw the establishment of 211 of fully functional wind farms. There is a steady progress in wind farm development across the country. For the year 2012, the aim is to increase offshore wind production capability by building at least five wind farms with a potential capacity of producing 1300 mega watts of electricity. This will be a much welcomed addition to the current 6,580 megawatts produced by the 333 fully functional wind farms across the country. Examples of functional wind farms in the U.K include the Burbo Bank wind farm, Scroby Sands and the largest offshore wind farm in the world, Thanet wind farm at the coast of Kent. The government’s commitment to these projects is clear from the current budget allocation of over five hundred million pounds to offshore wind farms (Julia 2006, p. 103). Wind farm development has a large ecological impact both positively and negatively. Positive Ecological impact, of wind farm development in the U.K: Unlike other sources of energy, wind power does not require the use of another fuel or water for it to be produced. This ensures that when producing wind energy one does not require exploiting other sources of fuel (Dragoon 2010, p. 87). Wind power does not produce air pollution during production essentially making it a clean source of energy (Boyle 2004, p. 34). Building wind farms, therefore, means there will be less air pollution; this will give the environment ample time to disintegrate the already existing green house gases in the atmosphere. Studies indicate that, since the embrace of wind energy use, carbon dioxide emissions have reduced