Oli_Frost 18/6/09 08:43 Page 8
Oli Frost
Oli Frost
The Perse Upper School
Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 8QF
Environmentally sustainable energy management is often hindered by subsidies have made it one-third cheaper than petrol. Similarly, the
a need to balance environmental needs with socioeconomic ones. The government has promoted the use of electricity for space heating or
most profitable means of supplying energy are often not the most boilers that use wood-based pellets to the extent that only 8% of
environmentally sound ones and the moral principle behind homes in Sweden are heated by oil. The success of government
environmental conservation is not always enough that countries will schemes in Sweden demonstrates how a country can develop a more
compromise their economic development. environmentally sustainable energy mix by persuading its population
to use less energy and more renewables.
For example, the extraction of oil in the Niger delta is a very lucrative
business for Nigeria and earns over 40% of its gross domestic Government policies can also effectively influence industry to
product (GDP) through exports, yet the process of extracting oil and engineer the kinds of energy they use. California has managed to
the use of fossil fuels has had adverse effects on the environment. maintain static per capita electricity consumption for the last 30
The location of massive oil reserves coincides with the country’s years while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by as much as one-
most diverse and fragile environments, and the careless methods third through a number of policies focusing on transport, electricity
with which the area is managed has led to oil spills that threaten to production, energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. For
destroy these ecosystems, putting over 150 species of fish at risk of example, a target has been set that forces automobile manufacturers
extinction. The situation has become so bad that the Niger delta is to introduce cleaner technologies in order to cut emissions from cars
now one of the five most polluted places on the planet according to and light trucks by 25% by 2009. Electric companies are charged
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Given better environmental US$8 per tonne of carbon dioxide they produce (with the cost set to
impact assessment, these consequences might have been avoided, increase by 5% per year), so investment is more likely to be made in
but replacing the 6,000km of ageing oil pipelines would have been gas-fired plants than dirty coal stations that produce twice as many
a costly measure. The use of oil and other greenhouse gas (GHG)- GHGs. These companies are also banned from signing long-term
emitting fuels as an energy source also contributes to the growing contracts with coal-fired power stations, so purchasing energy from
environmental concern of global warming, but the use of carbon- renewable sources is more appealing. The Californian government
free sources is invariably more costly than that of traditional fuels. has made heavy investment in energy efficiency programmes and
The case of Nigeria shows that environmentally sustainable energy has since saved 12,000MW of electricity-generating capacity, and
exploitation can fall far outside a country’s own economic interest, aims to gain a further 2,800MW (the equivalent of 11 million tonnes
especially in impoverished less economically developed countries of carbon dioxide a year). As well as reducing carbon emissions,
(LEDCs), and that added incentives may be required to encourage California’s government has focused on developing renewable
the use of alternative sources. energy. The New Renewables Program will subsidise every unit of
energy produced through new solar, biomass and wind energy
Governments and international organisations have the power to schemes, while the Solar Initiative plan will give US$3.2 billion in
pass laws that motivate changes in energy supply and demand. One refunds to solar investors, as well as other subsidies for smaller-scale
approach is to try and reduce energy consumption at a consumer projects on residential buildings and offices. California is exemplary
level through public awareness campaigns or taxation, encouraging in showing how government policy can bridge the gap in cost
people to use simple practices such as not leaving appliances on between clean renewable sources and fossil fuels, but further
standby or using public transport. Since last year the UK government problems arise when one considers the environmental impacts
has been offering free provision of visual electricity display meters to associated with the construction of renewable plants.
make people more aware of how much energy they are using. Tax
incentives and subsidies can encourage consumers to use more Although renewables such as wind, geothermal, solar and
renewables. In Sweden the use of biofuel cars (which produce as hydroelectric have the obvious advantage of being carbon-free
much as 25% less pollution than petroleum vehicles) is becomingly (besides the energy used in their construction) and inexhaustible,
increasingly common due to a number of financial incentives each requires a very specific set of geographical conditions that
introduced by the government to encourage the use of renewables. limits their global distribution and the number of potential sites.
Car owners who use biofuel cars are exempt from tolls and parking Expansion of such sources is often strongly opposed due to the
charges and, although ethanol fuel costs 40% more to produce, damage to local environments they can cause. For example,
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