Where does the UK’s Energy come from?
With the ongoing price rises for energy in the UK, you’d be forgiven for wondering if we’re getting our energy sources from Mars. It turns out that we’re obtaining it from places somewhat nearer than another planet, although it doesn’t always come directly from the United Kingdom. In fact, energy imports in general during 2012 were at record levels for the UK, with an increase of 6.9% from the previous year.
Coal travels a long way to get here
Take coal for example. Once one of the UK’s major exports, we now import far more than we send away, with a total of 579,000 tonnes of the stuff coming from the EU in 2012, and an additional 36,599,000 tonnes coming from other countries, mainly Russia, Colombia, and the United States, in that order. Of course, we still produce coal, but the quantity was reduced in 2012 by 8.5% from 2011, while coal imports grew by 37.8% in the same year.
How is our energy used?
When discussing energy consumption in the UK, it’s important to remember that most of it is used for transport. Domestic use comes in second, and industry trails in third. Significant amounts are used by the energy industry, to transform basic fuel, like coal or natural gas, into electricity, heat, blast furnaces and further refining of fuels (such as petroleum refineries, and coked coal manufacture). Some of this then goes to gas and electricity suppliers that send it all down the pipes and cables to our homes.
Gas prices affect our electricity production
Because the price of natural gas is still rising, and did so throughout 2012, the energy industries dropped the quantity of gas they were using for electricity generation by around 12%, and purchased more coal instead. During 2012, gas was used for 28% electricity generation, while coal was used for 39%, and nuclear energy generated 19% of our electricity.
In 2012, the UK purchased around 534,987 gigawatt hours (GWh) of natural gas from other countries, 55% of which came from Norway. Of the total amount of natural gas imported to the UK, 147,879 GWh were liquefied natural gas (LNG), and 98% of this came from Qatar! The big guys are like the little domestic fish; they’re always searching for the cheapest gas and electricity prices.
Nuclear power: green or not?
One of the most controversial ways to produce electricity in the UK has been nuclear power. Despite the disaster at Fukushima still worrying a large proportion of the world, and several countries, including Germany, actually decommissioning their nuclear power stations as a response, UK energy chiefs are still insistent that nuclear energy is very clean.
However, the UK does not produce its own uranium, and so it imports this from two of the world’s largest producers of uranium: Canada and Australia, as well as several smaller producers. Australia itself doesn’t currently use nuclear power at all, but it is the third largest producer of the mineral.
Renewable energy take up improves yearly
The proportion of UK electricity generated by renewables rose to 11.3% in 2012, with new wind farms improving onshore wind capacity by a whopping 27%. If we’ve got anything for free in the UK, it’s wind! In fact, renewables across the board have had a large improvement in take up, with a 19% increase overall, with solar photovoltaic capacity increasing by 71%, something linked to the uptake of Feed-In Tariffs.
All of these figures are a little mind-boggling, but they represent a larger picture where the UK produces less than half of its own energy, and imports the rest through a variety of means, from obvious places like Russia, and more surprising places, like Venezuela and Qatar.
Jordan Ashe works in the energy sector. He regularly contributes insights to relevant blogs to help people better understand the UK’s position in the global energy market.
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