Fact
file
The average UK home
releases more than six tonnes of carbon dioxide each year when
its energy comes from fossil fuel burning power stations.
By generating energy from renewable resources you will help
protect the environment, reduce carbon emissions and be more
energy self-sufficient.
Studies on houses
in Milton Keyes have shown that improved insulation and draft
proofing can reduce heating bills by up to 40%.
In the UK the constant
ground source temperature is around 12º C and can be utilised
to heat and cool buildings.
Climate Change
The 1990’s
were the warmest decade in the warmest century of the last millennium.
Most experts agree that it’s getting hotter because people
and industry burn fossil fuels like oil, coal & gas that
emit heat trapping, greenhouse gasses in to the atmosphere.
Scientists estimate
that we need to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 60% to avoid
the worst impacts of climate change.
Experts expect our
summers to become drier, but when it does rain it will probably
rain harder.
At the same time UK winter rainfall may increase by 5 and 20
per cent, leading to worse than frequent flooding.
Sea levels will rise as polar ice caps melt, perhaps by as much
as 86 centimetres in some parts of the UK by 2080.
Climate change could
shrink soils and increase the chances of erosion and building
subsidence.
The EU is legally
bound to cut emissions by 8% against 1990 levels.
The UK needs to cut it’s emissions by 12.5% to achieve
it’s target.
The UK Government has set a separate target to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2010.
What
is renewable energy ?
Renewable energy
is energy that comes from fuel sources that cannot run out or
that can endlessly be replaced.
Examples of renewable energy include Solar power, wood, wind
and hydroelectric.
Source
: Environment Agency
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