Labour has recently released warnings that the Government’s cuts to solar power in the UK are detrimental to public interests, reducing the focus on the renewable energy source and its ongoing development. The warnings come at the same time as the Conservatives announce record high scores in the 2012 Climate Change Performance Index, so there’s more than a little challange back at labour from the blue side of the parliamentary divide.
Caroline Flint MP and Labour’s Shadow Energy and Climate Change Secretary, commented recently (21st December 2011) on a High Court ruling that cuts to solar tariff payments are legally flawed:
“Many projects have been ditched. People have lost their jobs. Confidence has been dented, with future investment possibly lost for good.”
With the high court ruling putting the the possibility of further Government cuts on the back burner, the details put a bit of a dent in the Conservative’s announcement about the 2012 Climate Change Performance Index. The index, produced by the Climate Change Action Network Europe and Germanwatch, provides a pretty good indication that the Coalition Government is pushing the UK forward when it comes to green energy, but the reaction from Labour is that more should be done to support solar power industries.
With the UK achieving second place in the index, just behind Sweden, for performance on measures to reduce climate change it’s hard to find fault in the Coalition government’s policies. However, the High Court ruling and the warnings from the Labour party appear to be the chinks in the armour, reiterating the fact that more can always be done to improve our environmental conscience.
Maybe now that the cuts have been stopped, projects can begin again and the UK can aim for the No 1 spot in the next index, but more importantly the technology continues to get the investment it needs to develop into an efficient energy solution in the UK. Although photovoltaics and concentrated solar power are undoubtedly better suited to sunnier climbs like Spain, Arizona and Southern California, the ruling is a clear indication that there is still a space for these technologies in the UK, as well as solar powered hot water systems, in the UK.
The problem with the technology is energy efficiency, cost of the panels and batteries needed to run them and a progressive degradation of the electricity yield over time, so they become increasingly inefficient over the years. However, even with the relative infancy and inefficiency of modern day solar panels they can still help to power the UK. From what we can gather, if every roof on every home in the UK had solar panels, it would account for around 15% of our energy usage.
That may not sound much now, but when you consider that the top speed of a Ford Model T was 28mph back in the early 1900s you can see that it takes development for industries to attain efficiency. It’s fairly crude mathematics, but if the solar panel innovation development can have the same success as the production car then it could account for all of our power needs, all of the time in a cool century.
