Renewable and Solar Power in the UK Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Renewable and Solar Power in the UK - Essay Example The paper tells that the solar energy is an alternative for the more widespread fossil fuel based energy sources such as oil, gas and coal. The UK possesses 0.3% of global oil reserves. A peak for oil production in the UK occurred in 1999, and by 2010, this tailed off by 54%. There are indications however, that there could be an estimated 25 billion barrels of oil remaining in British waters. Tapping into these reserves however, would require a capital expenditure of around  £60 billion so it would be very costly. As of 2010, oil production in the UK was 63 million tonnes, estimated reserves stood at 751 million tonnes, which was a decrease of 18 million tonnes from the previous year. Gas production in the same year was 55 bcm and reserves stood at 253 bcm, which was 3 bcm less than the previous year. The situation for natural gas in the UK is therefore similar. There was a sharp decline in UK gas reserves from 0.74 trillion cubic meters in 2000 to 0.66 trillion cubic meters in 200 1 and by the year 2010, the gas reserves were as low as 0.25 trillion cubic meters. Also, as the production of gas in the UK is 57.1 billion cubic meters whereas the requirement is for 93.8 billion cubic meters, 39% of the UK's gas supply requirements is met by import. Oil reserves are also diminishing globally. The official OPEC's claim of an estimated 1.150 billion barrels is exaggerated and the actual reserves are believed to be between 850 billion and 1.35 billion barrels. (Telegraph, 2010). Moreover, it is believed that the demand could outstrip the supply by 2014. In fact, natural reserves are decreasing for both oil and gas while at the same time, there is a rising global demand for coal and oil. For the UK, Busby (2010) suggests greater use should be made of bio-diesel, landfill gas, and geophysical energy sources such as wind energy and hydropower. However, there is a problem in that deriving energy from the wind, rain and Sun is not as reliable as using pumped storage syst ems. Regardless, wind and solar powered technologies are promising. Wind energy for example, could meet up to 20% of the national energy requirements (Busby, 2010). As of July 2011, the UK government has now decided to promote the use of low-carbon forms of energy as part of its reformation strategy through providing incentives such as Fee-in-Tariffs for solar PV, Renewable Heating for wind and nuclear power and through establishing an emission performance standard (Envirolink, 2011). In its Energy White Paper 2011, the government set out its objectives (SSE, 2011). These included providing additional revenues to existing low carbon production efforts, making future investments in low carbon generation, and shutting down older less efficient plants. In its publication titled 'Carbon Footprint of Electricity Generation', the government recognised that increasing energy needs and controlling environmental impact are the two biggest challenges for the UK energy sector (POST, 2011). Sol ar power can meet the need for reducing the UK's carbon footprint because the environmental impact of its use is much less than of coal and other fossil fuels. In fact, all fossil fuelled technologies, such as oil, gas and coal, have the largest carbon footprints whereas non-fossil fuel based technologies such as solar, wind, tidal, hydro, biomass and nuclear are

Education Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Education Law - Essay Example The significance of the case is to show that school authorities should ensure that the off-campus rules they implement need clear wording, applied and interpreted for students who do not understand them. The case is an excellent example for school authority officials and for students showing what happens in instances when school rules get breached. The student was not suspended from carrying out other school activities and functions, but got suspended from the baseball team as punishment for being in possession of alcohol. The violation of school rules warrants different punishments. However, certain factors have to be considered before enforcing such punishments. The first factor is the seriousness of the offense. Other factors such as the student’s age, the student’s code adopted by the board, the attitude and how often the student commits the offense are also important to assess. Lastly, the other two factors include requirements of chapter 37 of the education code and the potential effect that the student’s misconduct has on the school environment. The first concept is that the state has to take action (Lesson 3). For example, a teacher from a private school who gets fired without getting a notice from the school’s board of team members has the right to complain for contractual breach. In such an instance the school becomes liable for a lawsuit because it violates its own policies. The second concept is that the person must have been dispossessed of his or her property or liberty by the state for the court to accept that there has been a violation of due process. In this case, the state is liable for violation of due process because of breaching the contract formed between it and the person. The third concept is that the nature of due process is dependent on how severe the problem is in a case. In a case where a person has killed another person and gets sentenced to life imprisonment or death penalty, the state is liable for