The energy issue
Most of the world's energy is produced from
stocks of carbon and carbon flow is one of the most critical global
issues of all, the production and consumption of energy and the
associated undesirable environmental effects, from smog, acid rain
and oil spills to Chernobyl and global warming. Energy, like
minerals, is talked of in terms of being a 'primary resource' but
it is altogether distinctive, although both are clearly related.
Some important energy resources, such as coal, oil and uranium, are
themselves minerals; and the extraction and processing of minerals
requires energy, in a suitable form, to drive digging and crushing
machinery and to modify chemical structure, as in the process of
smelting ores to produce useful metals.
The international debate on global warming and
the need to limit the emission of harmful 'greenhouse gases',
notably carbon dioxide, particularly from the burning of fossil
fuels like coal and oil, is the focus for discussion in the next
chapter.
To arrive at any meaningful assessment of
'choice' or 'practicable policy alternatives' requires
consideration of a number of interrelated issues: the relationship
between stocks and demand — the production of power from a
variety of energy sources and global patterns of consumption; the
balance between renewable and non-renewable energy resources;
changing patterns of use in the more developed world and increasing
energy requirements in the less developed world; energy efficiency,
resource conservation and the exploration of new energy paths for
the world to follow. To help us along the way we shall be looking
at energy policies in Denmark, a country that has adopted a
progressive approach in cateringfor its energy needs. However,
first we should take a broad view of the global energy
picture.
Carbon stocks and renewability
One of the most crucial areas of concern for environmentalists is
the extent to which all nations are prepared, or able, to move from
relying predominantly on non-renewable energy resources—
fossil fuels and nuclear fuels — to an increasing use of
'renewable' resources - solar, wind, tidal power. The conventional
starting point for looking at energy resources globally is to
examine the way in which the proved reserves of fossil fuels are
distributed around the world, for at the start of the 1990s global
energy needs continued to be dominated by coal, oil and natural
gas.
Britain's industrial revolution was based upon
ready access to coal, which soon became equally important
world-wide, as it still is. In the USA at the end of the nineteenth
century, oil also became vital, supporting the development of the
automobile, soon to become a world issue in its own right. In the
mid-twentieth century the use of natural gas as a cleaner domestic
and industrial fuel increased throughout the developed world.
Current perceptions of the amounts of these fuels now available
give an instant image of powerful economic and political influences
at work at the end of the twentieth century'.
'Proved reserves' refers only to those resources
judged to be extractable 'under existing economic and operating
conditions' and not to the amounts that might be ultimately
available. So the concept of reserves depends on the state of
exploration and extraction technology, and on world prices, which
in turn depend on the main operators in the energy
industries.
Their influence was no better demonstrated than
in the oil crisis of 1973, when the Middle East-dominated cartel
OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) ensured that
restricting supplies became a highly profitable venture. There is
still a continuing overwhelming dominance of that region in terms
of supplies of oil, which is a major factor of political
instability. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and the subsequent
Gulf War in 1991 were potent and horrifying reminders of the
measures that some nations, for differing reasons, are prepared to
take to 'safeguard' essential supplies of a basic resource. In the
event, estimates of proven reserves will have to be revised
following the fires that burned out of control throughout Kuwait.
The environmental costs of that episode have been truly
enormous.
In 1988 it was estimated that at current
extraction rates oil supplies would last for 42 years, if averaged
over the whole world, ranging from five years for the United
Kingdom and 10 for North America to over 100 years for several
Middle Eastern states. For natural gas the estimates were scarcely
more encouraging, with an average world 'life expectancy' of 55
years, ranging from over 100 years for the Middle East to only 13
years for the UK and North America. The fossil fuel with the
longest life span is coal, the original industrial fuel. Its world-
wide distribution is more even than either oil or natural gas and
at current consumption rates it could be at least the twenty- third
century, and probably beyond, before known supplies are used
up.
Allowing for the fact that all such projections
should be viewed circumspectly, these figures nevertheless
highlight one very significant part of the energy problem, the
continuing dependence on fossil fuels by the majority of countries,
whether less or more developed, and the reluctance of coal- rich
countries to see any constraints placed upon the burning of coal,
one of the principal contributors to the greenhouse effect. North
America, the USSR and China are all richly endowed with coal
reserves.
The total consumption of primary energy for the
non- communist world 1970—1989. Excluded from these data are
biomass fuels — wood, animal wastes - essential to the fuel
requirements of many less developed nations (they are not traded
and therefore do not appear in commercial statistics) and other
forms of renewable energy too small to register on this diagram.
Biomass fuels are believed to provide 10-15 per cent of the world's
primary energy needs, which gives some indication of the pressure
on forest resources of indigenous peoples.
The key point is that carbon stocks have been
used and continues to be used in most parts of the world in an
unsustainable manner, with demand being distributed quite
unequally. About 25 per cent of the world's people consume over 75
per cent of the world's primary energy. Yet, even within the more
developed world, energy is being consumed at variable rates, from
about 4-5 kilowatts per capita in Europe and Japan through to about
10 kW per capita in the United States. Consumption is less than 1
kW per head in many less developed countries, but from the
developing world demand is increasing all the time, partly as a
factor of population growth, but more specifically related to an
urgent desire to industrialise. If the growing world population
follows the development path of industrialised countries, the
pressure on existing energy resources will be overwhelming.
The unequal energy habits of different nations
are highlighted by the dominance of the United States in the use of
oil, gas and coal. In 1988 oil accounted for some 38 per cent of US
commercial energy consumption, with oil imports amounting to over
40 million dollars' worth, approximately equivalent to one-third of
the nation's trade deficit. The US transportation system alone
consumes enough oil to provide for all Japan's energy needs. The
sheer scale of energy consumption in the United States indicates
that the US could have a major impact on global carbon emissions by
developing more efficient cost- effective technologies. But is this
likely to happen and if so, when?
The international community faces a daunting
challenge in attempting to set targets for the reduction of global
emissions from the continuing use of fossil fuels, let alone
enforcing them. But where should the principal responsibilities
rest for tackling the major problems? Is it feasible to shift
dependence from non-renewable to renewable sources, and whilst this
is being achieved to stretch existing energy supplies through
energy efficient technologies, without exhausting those supplies
and without having further recourse to the controversial and
potentially hazardous generation of nuclear power? That is a tall
order indeed, more especially for less developed countries that are
heavily dependent upon 'dirty' and inefficient technology.
The OOA proposals were based upon an integrated
energy and environment analysis, the objective of which was to
increase the potential choices available in providing reliable and
continuing sources of energy on a sustainable basis. The
Alternative Energy Plan emphasises two basic principles:
1 Energy conservation to reduce total energy
demand.
2 Renewable sources of energy increasingly to
replace the conventional sources, but only in tandem with policies
for conservation.
Supporters of the Alternative Energy Plan are
convinced that it is and point to a series of technological
developments and current projects that underline both the
efficiency and conservation arguments and the requirements to shift
progressively to the use of renewables. In terms of new technology,
it is being widely demonstrated that significant energy savings can
be made by investing in low energy domestic appliances, like
refrigerators which use one-quarter of the electricity of
conventional models and fluorescent lighting. Although the initial
cost is higher, they are still cost effective because of the huge
potential for energy conservation.
All of this requires a long-term commitment on
the part of government and industry, but nevertheless these are the
kinds of technical change that, followed through in detail, could
lead to the projected reductions in total energy demand contained
in the alternative plan. Relying on technological innovation is
only part of the equation, however. Most European countries are
active in promoting ways of meeting demand from renewable sources.
Two in particular are worthy of note. Both are based upon
traditional ideas, but make use of the latest technology: the
production of methane gas and wind power.
Experimental projects are already well in hand to
produce methane from wastes, either on intensive livestock farms
and capped landfill sites for domestic wastes, using an 'anaerobic
digester'. The methane is then used as a fuel for a local power and
heating system. This type of solution is well suited to local,
decentralised systems of power generation and is a good example of
using biomass as an energy source, applicable equally to wood
through the Industrial Revolution and at an ever more rapid rate in
the twentieth century
Greenhouse gases and global warming.
The 1988 level of
greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide was 350 p.p.m. This is 10
per cent greater than that of 1958 To make matters worse, the
warming effects of carbon dioxide have been supplemented by other
greenhouse gases: methane concentration has doubled since the
Industrial Revolution and CFCs are extremely powerful greenhouse
gases with no natural precursor. The rapid rise in greenhouse gases
suggests an increasingly rapid rise in atmospheric temperatures and
the prospect of exceeding the highest levels in recent geological
history, with the rate of temperature increase one hundred times
faster than ever before.
What will be the effect of the rise in greenhouse
gas concentrations on temperatures and on climatic patterns? This
ceases to be a matter of evidence and requires the use of
scientific models (see the box on page 139). Most analyses have
focused on the likely effects of a doubling of carbon dioxide
levels above the pre-industrial level. The estimates fall into the
range 3-6 °C with 4 °C the most probable figure. Such a
rise would take global temperatures well above any level which has
occurred in the last few million years. How soon might it
occur?
To put a time-scale on this change, it is
necessary to predict the likely change in emissions of carbon
dioxide and the other greenhouse gases. That takes us out of the
realm of science and into economic forecasting —an even more
difficult enterprise. It is clear that the main contributor is
carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels, but
growing problems are carbon dioxide released by deforestation,
methane from agriculture and natural gas leaks, nitrous oxide in
vehicle exhausts and CFCs. The growth in emissions has been
spectacular: world energy use quadrupled between 1950 and 1984 and
carbon dioxide emissions tripled in the same period. The future
prospect is for even more rapid growth unless action is taken. The
link between emissions and atmospheric concentrations is
mysterious: about half the carbon dioxide emitted disappears from
the atmosphere but scientists cannot at present identify where it
goes. Without this fortunate accident, the predictions would be
even more alarming. As it is, the worst case estimate (in other
words, the fastest likely rate of emissions) would double carbon
dioxide by 2040, the most probable case would delay doubling until
the end of the century. Only the most optimistic assumptions about
control of emissions yield any hope that the doubling can be
prevented. However, that takes us on to the question of political
response and there remains a crucial step in understanding the
problem - the effect of a rising temperature on other things,
notably on sea level, the frequency of extreme events and on
ecosystems.