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UK needs low carbon revolution to meet CO2 target, report warns
19/03/10
Edited by Bob Witham. The UK will have to undertake "the biggest peacetime programme of investment and social change" ever seen if it is to cut carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, according to a new report.
In its study, the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) warned that even if overall energy demand can be "substantially reduced", the country will have to maximise its renewable energy resources and rely on the large-scale development of nuclear and coal or gas power stations with carbon capture technology in order to meet the government's target.
Based on figures from Germany, the UK could reasonably expect to increase the capacity of solar power generation by two gigawatts a year, which would bring its total capacity to 80 gigawatts by 2050.
This would equate to builders having to install 36 square metres of solar panels per household, the report said.
In some of the scenarios examined the by the RAE, the use of renewables would have to be supplemented by the construction of up to 50 nuclear power stations in order to achieve the necessary reduction in carbon output.
