Positive Energy: how renewable electricity can transform ... - WWF UK

The environmental case for renewables
The environmental risks of renewable technologies are significantly fewer and less longlasting
than those of nuclear and conventional thermal generation. But we still need to
carefully consider and take action to mitigate them. For example, WWF objected to the
Severn Barrage scheme to harness renewable energy from the River Severn because it
could pose a risk to important plant and wildlife habitats. However, we strongly support
efforts to research alternative projects in the Severn that could strike a better balance
between generating renewable energy and protecting biodiversity.
Renewable
energy doesn’t
leave future
generations with
a legacy of
environmental
degradation
When carefully located, renewable energy technologies are a sustainable source of
energy 12 . Renewable energy doesn’t leave future generations with a legacy of
environmental degradation (whether linked to the impacts of climate change or fossil
fuel extraction) or produce radioactive waste that can remain toxic for over 100,000
years. There are many renewable technologies at various stages of development or
commercialisation. If they’re well supported financially and politically, we expect their
costs to fall substantially as technological improvements and economies of scale are
realised and domestic supply chains are developed. Prioritising renewable energy could
also boost UK economic growth, given the size of the UK’s renewable energy sources
and its world leading research, development and industrial capabilities.
We commissioned GL Garrad Hassan (GL GH) to examine how the UK could meet
the CCC’s decarbonisation target without relying on risky new nuclear generation and
other unsustainable forms of energy. The report looks in particular at how the UK
can maintain sustainable growth in renewables capacity beyond 2020. The analysis
underlying the government’s original Electricity Market Reform proposals assumes the
UK will use 29% renewables in 2020, but this will rise to just 35% by 2030. This boom
and bust approach to renewables deployment post-2020 is bad for business and likely
to undermine development of a UK renewables manufacturing sector.
WWF-UK 2011 Positive Energy page 18