Energy in the United Kingdom describes energy and electricity production, consumption, import and export in the United Kingdom. Energy policy of the United Kingdom will describe the politics of the United Kingdom related to energy more in detail. Electricity sector in the United Kingdom is the main article of electricity in the United Kingdom.
Energy use in the United Kingdom stood at 3,894.6 kilogrammes of oil equivalent per capita in 2005 compared to a world average of 1,778.0. In 2008, total energy consumed was 9.85 exajoules (EJ) - around 2% of the estimated 474 EJ worldwide total (while the United Kingdom accounts for under 1% of global population). Demand for electricity in 2006 was ~40GW typically, and ~60GW at peak; the total electricity consumed in 2006 was 1.25 exajoules.
The Low Carbon Transition Plan launched by the British government (Brown ministry) in July 2009 aims at 30% of renewable and of 40% of low CO2-content fuels in electricity generation by 2020. The NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) announced winning bidders for its nuclear site auction and launched a new process for the Sellafield site to be closed by 2010. These actions are occurring as Europe is facing the consequences of the economic and financial crisis. Europe’s consumptions shrank by 5% and primary production faced a noticeable drop as well. The trade deficit was reduced by 8%, respectively due to substantial cuts in energy imports.
Government policy plays a key role in limiting greenhouse gas emissions toward avoiding dangerous climate change, and in meeting energy demand. Shifting availabilities of resources and development of technologies also change the country's energy mix through changes in costs. In 2006, the United Kingdom was ranked 5th in the World on the Environmental Performance Index- which measures how well a country carries through environmental policy - and the United Kingdom were ranked in the top 20 in the subsequent EPIs in 2008 and 2010. Great Britain returned to the top 10 in the 2012 Environmental Performance Index.
Read more about Energy In The United Kingdom: Overview, Fossil Fuels, Electricity Supply, Cogeneration, Energy Research, Energy Efficiency
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“The chief function of the city is to convert power into form, energy into culture, dead matter into the living symbols of art, biological reproduction into social creativity.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)
“There are no accidents, only nature throwing her weight around. Even the bomb merely releases energy that nature has put there. Nuclear war would be just a spark in the grandeur of space. Nor can radiation “alter” nature: she will absorb it all. After the bomb, nature will pick up the cards we have spilled, shuffle them, and begin her game again.”
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—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
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—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)