What are the barriers and success factors for domestic micro-generation in the UK to gain ground?

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Introduction

Domestic micro-generation is gaining popularity in the UK. It means electricity generation by users and household owners. Both the government and the private sector are focusing their resources for its implementation. It is believed that 15% of CO2 emissions will be reduced once micro-generation has been fully implemented by 2050.

Micro-generation seems to be the hope of environmentalists to save the Earth. It will enhance the role of households in fighting climate change. It will create energy generators out of consumers. And it is a noble idea that will surely benefit people and environment.

But there are barriers in its implementation. The question is how and what are the ways. Not that it is impossible or too difficult to implement. As in the usual project implementation, teamwork and collaboration are needed. This project needs the support of all the stakeholders considering that there are many steps and stages that have to be followed to make it successful.

There can be various drivers of change for this attractive endeavour. Policy makers and businesses are actively pursuing it. The UK government has initiated moves to make micro-generation a primary undertaking. The Micro-generation Strategy was released in March 2006 with the aim of dealing with barriers and problems.

A law was passed, the Climate Change and Sustainable Energy Act 2006, to support government initiatives on micro-generation. Another move was the creation of Energy Review, an information material to outline the aggressive activities of the UK government. (Watson et al., 2008, p. 1)

The Energy Saving Trust of the UK said that micro-generation will answer 30-40% of the country’s electricity demand by the year 2050. This will benefit the environment because it will reduce 25% of CO2 emissions. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 39)

When it comes to who is getting headway on micro-generation, the UK only has an estimated 100,000 micro-generation installations using solar thermal system, not yet at par with Japan’s 200,000 photovoltaic (PV) rooftop installations and the German government’s subsidized PV installations. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 39)

The government is also considering tariff exemptions on certain aspects of the micro-generation implementation. Subsidies are also being talked about and to be considered in the British Parliament once a full report of the system implementation in the field is submitted.

A report by the Committee on Economic Affairs said that providing subsidies to installation of micro-generation to make sure that low-income households benefit from it, will positively impact on reducing oil consumption and thus reduce fuel poverty. (House of Lords, 2008, p. 296)

Methodology

The methodology to be used for this study is review of the literature and primary research. Primary research will be conducted on respondents who are working in organizations whose operations involve micro-generation.

Sustainable energy generation is attainable but there are many barriers; one of these is the cost of installing micro-generation. Capital cost is one of the problems and determining it will be one of the aims of the study.

Data will be collected through questionnaires which will be submitted to participants who will be selected at random from a list of employees or middle-level managers of the various organizations that are involved in micro-generation

Questionnaire

The questions that will be contained in the questionnaires will run like these:

What is your role and responsibility in the organization you are in?
If your organization is a private organization, how do you partner with the government in providing micro-generation?
If you are from the government, how do you encourage private companies in collaborating with the government?
What technology does your organization specialize in?
What technology do you apply for micro-generation?
How long has your organization been involved in micro-generation?
What part of UK, or other countries, has your organization implemented this kind of technology?
What are the costs, if you know, in domestic micro-generation? Can you enumerate the costs for the different micro-generation technologies?
Where are the sources of funding in micro-generation?
What are your critical success factors?

After the selection of a random sample, the questionnaires will be emailed to the participants. The email will contain instructions on how to answer the questions and to return back the questionnaires with the corresponding answers. Those who will not return back their questionnaires will be sent again another round of emails.

Ethical considerations will also be incorporated in the conduct of the survey questions. The prospective participants will be informed that their identity will be kept confidential and that they will not be compelled to answer questions that they feel are oppressive or do not conform to the required ethical standards in conducting surveys.

Research Question

How can the UK speed up implementation of micro-renewable technology considering the various barriers and problems coming up from its initial stage of implementation?

Hypothesis

There are a number of barriers to generation of micro energy and micro-renewable technology: high capital costs, people’s lack of understanding of the technology, and lack of knowledge of where to find source of funding.

Rationale of the study

Climate change is one of the threats facing our Earth. The deterioration of the environment has become alarming that we should not ignore it. Inhabitants of the Earth never get tired of producing things that result in environmental degradation.

Aside from misuse, another term we can apply on the environment is overuse. Much has been utilized from our important ecosystems: the forests, fisheries, wetland, fresh water resources. We move fast to destroy our ecosystem and ecological balance. And we also have to move fast and change course of actions to save the environment and the planet as a whole.

Major air pollutants come from transportation, stationary sources such as factories and power plants, and industries. Air pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, particulates, hydrocarbons, and photochemical oxidants.

All these harm the environment. If we change them with reusable and sustainable energy, pollutants will be controlled and once again we restore the beauty and freshness of mother Earth.

Ever since man has ventured into agriculture, he has used deforestation and destruction of the environment for personal needs, impacting climatic and ecological conditions. These irresponsible activities diminish the natural recycling of carbon dioxide gases, and in the process it accelerates and increases the inversion layer that traps the reflected energy of the sun, the so-called ozone layer.

The augmented inversion layer has an elevated atmospheric temperature, giving rise to global warming which has caused melting of the polar ice, substantial changes to climatic conditions, and depletion of the ozone layer. Something should be done to replace Earth’s lost glory.

The unchecked effects of global warming will not only change the makeup of the global land mass but will affect man’s lifestyle on the planet. It will hasten the rise of seawater levels and cover some habitable coastlines.

In view of the rapid expansion of the world’s economies, demand for fossil fuel and construction materials will become severe. Added to this is the demand for water. And the excessive demand for fossil fuel energy, resources will also result in the demise of the ecology of our planet; the effects might be long lasting and cannot be reversed. Scientists say that this is of immediate concern.

The deterioration of our planet’s ecosystem and atmosphere cannot be ignored; if we have to act, the right time is now. Our planet’s ozone layer has been depleted by severe coal gas emissions. Worse is the reality that greenhouse gases have altered meteorological conditions.

The world’s program of action has not improved these past decades because we still depend on fossil fuel; specifically eighty percent of energy comes from fossil fuels.

There will come a time that supply of oil will fall short. In other words, there must be a way to produce a substitute for fossil fuels and coal, something that is not harmful to the ozone layers and the environment as a whole. Solar energy and other forms of environmentally friendly energy using the wind, the tidal waves, hydro, and other similar forms, must be tapped.

With the increase of consumption in energy and water in the years ahead, surely we have a big problem in our supplies of basic necessities of which only nature can provide. Agriculture will be adversely affected by lower water supplies, and there will be extreme heat and drought.

Shifting to renewable energy has been the hope of conservationists and putting micro-generation in the forefront of reducing carbon emissions at the same time freeing ourselves from dependency to fossil fuel is killing two birds in one shot.

Everyone should help in providing focus; the government, along with the public and private sectors, must ensure a smooth working model for micro-generation system. The use of micro generation is one intervention to climate change that has been identified as being applicable not just at the industrial level but also at the individual level (Sauter & Watson, 2007). But the target uptake has to be the main aim.

Many researches relating to micro generation among domestic users and industries and its role in reducing climate change have been conducted.Such researches have identified its implementation as an expensive undertaking and that therefore requires high capital costs (Keirstead, 2006; Watson, 2004; Wolven, 2001)

Very few studies have been done to assess what impact the high capital costs of this implementation would have on domestic users’ uptake and their expected role in reducing climate change (Caird & Roy, 2010).

The focus for this study will be on domestic users and not industries. By implementing the use of micro generation, communities and individual consumers are likely to contribute in achieving renewable targets as well as reduce carbon emissions.

Barriers include too much payback time and high costs. The customers’ lack of understanding, little capital, and “risk-aversion” with respect to technology are also some of the problems. But Watson et al. (2008) said that this can be remedied through issuance of energy service contracts to the customers to inform them of the intricacies of micro-generation installation.

In fact, if plans materialized, by 2050, life in the UK would be much easier than it is today – fresh air and free of pollutants, no worries about fuel, and the environment and our place would be a safer place to live in. But that is easier said than done.

Processes and steps to a full implementation of the government’s micro-generation program will encounter problems and barriers. What we should do is to get our move together, define the roles of the public and private sectors in informing and motivating household owners into acquiring their support to be a part of micro-generation system.

One of the primary activities or steps that should be undertaken is to provide information and understanding on the availability of this technology to household owners.

This paper will define the role of micro-generation in saving the environment, how to implement this great endeavour in the domestic areas of the UK, and identify the barriers and problems and find and recommend solutions so that micro-generation will be fully implemented in all households in the UK.

It will collect information from vast resources, from online and physical libraries, on the various studies conducted on micro-generation in the UK.

General Objective

The objective is to determine the impact of domestically implementing micro-energy and micro renewable technology to environment, climate change and people; to define capital costs; and ultimately to enumerate users’ benefits.

Specific Aims

The aims are:

To define the roles of each sector (government, private, and individual households) in the implementation of micro energy and micro renewable technology;
To assess the existing relationship between the cost of micro generation and domestic users’ uptake and climate change.
To identify sources of funds in the micro-generation implementation.
To analyze the various data and information available on the topic of micro-generation and micro renewable technology.
To provide a working model of a micro-generation technology.

Review of the Literature

The literature will focus on studies on micro-generation conducted in the past, background of micro energy and micro generation technology, and the barriers of a successful implementation.

Over these past few decades, the world has experienced tremendous changes in our way of life due to technology. To run these technologies, we need electricity. Most of the energy supply is powered by coal-fired generators which produce and release carbon dioxide to the air. (Beith, Burdon & Knowles, 2004, p. 1)

The principle behind renewable energy is based on the fact that there is a need to reduce carbon emissions in the air in order to reduce climate change.

What are the barriers in micro generation in the UK? And what are the strategies to counter these barriers?

A statement by the Association for Conservation of Energy said that costs and the spatial planning system are two main barriers to increased uptake for micro-generation.

The UK government recognizes this dilemma, adding “regulatory, information and technical” as some of the barriers to micro-generation. Consumers do not want these up-front costs because it meant micro-generation is only for those with money.

Other barriers include confusions over which one to use, wind turbines or solar systems, and the choice over which grants could provide maximum benefits for consumers. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 40)

The Sustainable Technologies Programme (STP) of the government aimed to identify and foster sustainable technologies along with the social and economic results from implementing these technologies.

The STP studies resulted in some negative implications because of the high cost of micro-generation, but this is only when technology involves a micro-combined heat and power, solar photovoltaic, and wind energy. (Watson et al., 2006 cited in Genus, n.d.)

Excessive payback including technical problems, rules and regulations to be carried out in the course of implementation, lack of reliable consultants to advice on technical and other important matters, and many problems in the installation.

Micro generation involves technologies used in generation of both heat and power that have a thermal output rating below 45kWt or an electrical output of 50kWt. It includes the generation of heat and power from either the wind, solar photovoltaic (PV), and hydro sources.

It also includes heat generation from biomass, solar thermal and heat pumps as well as micro CHP which produces heat and power from renewable or fossil fuels (Clinch et. al., 2001). Increased use of renewable energy, including micro-renewable, can make an important contribution in the efforts to reduce carbon emissions in support of climate change and renewable energy objectives (Wolven, 2001).

The government is strongly taking the role of ensuring environmental safety and sustainability through reduction of climate change (Caird & Roy, 2010). The Scottish Government has for example set a target to generate 50 per cent of Scotland’s electricity from renewable by the year 2020, with an interim target of 31 per cent by the year 2011.

Micro-renewable are expected to play an important role in meeting (or exceeding) these targets and the historic environment which will be a significant contributor. It is evident from various studies that reliance on most renewable energy like solar energy contributes greatly in reducing climate change (Watson, 2004).

Hence since most micro energy production technologies are in renewable energy, micro-renewable energy sources are likely to take a vital role in realizing governments’ objectives. (Keirstead, 2006)

Watson et al. (2006 cited in Genus, n.d., p. 4) conducted studies on three micro-generation technologies: the solar photovoltaic cells, micro CHP (combined heat and power) and micro-wind energy. These three were considered commercially available.

The micro CHP was based on computer generated models while the micro-wind was based on computer data of 1.5kw turbine. The shortest payback period was recorded on micro-CHP which was between the years 2-9 and 7-19. The photovoltaic registered the longest payback period, between 35-48 years. The results were applied with calculations and considered were the location and the operating factors including maintenance costs.

There were some difficulties recorded in the community-level efforts. This was because of the learning processes that should have been conducted. But the technology itself was not a hindrance; rather it was on some factors like funding, installation difficulties, including other social factors. (Walker et al., 2007)

The difficulties to uptake micro-generation also became a part of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) report. The barriers were on “distributed” generation and these were: cost, necessary information not properly attained, lack of network structure, and other regulatory and procedural matters. (DTI, 2005)

Other barriers included planning, problems related to “metering”, problems with renewable heat; the cost of the technology, and low level of understanding by consumers or users.

Economic Incentives for Micro-generation

Household owners who are interested to install micro-generation in their homes can go and consult the Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) for their source of funding. This agency started in 2006 and was allocated £28.5 million to help and grant loans to households, community members, including public and commercial establishments. £6 million went to household micro-generation.

During the second phase, £50m was provided for public sector and charitable organizations that were planning to install micro-generation. The programme was a successful project of the government because it was aimed to support more large installations and also bring the costs down. In 2007, money was increased by providing £6m for household “stream”. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 41)

LCBP grants became popular among many citizens so that the system was modified to “first come, first served basis” due to the increasing number of applicants. The government then allocated a monthly funding of £500,000, and was made available every month.

The LCBP was suspended by DTI but was reinstated in May of 2007. Budget for households was £6.4 million. Upon the re-launch of LCBP, more funds were allocated. In May to July 2007, 629 households were given a budget of £624,316. But the government has not provided the House with the actual monthly expenditure for the Low Carbon Buildings Programme project. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 41)

Conclusion

In the UK today, there are some retailers now selling micro-generation technologies; examples are wind turbines and solar panels for the production of electricity and hot water. The point is that micro-generation is gaining ground, but uptake is still slow. There has to be joined efforts among the various stakeholders to be led by the government in collaboration with the private sector.

The Micro-generation Strategy implemented by the UK government aimed to provide the conditions wherein micro-generation becomes an alternative source of electricity for local households and even businesses. This agency announced that it was changing the government’s planning system when it came to micro-generation.

The changes would make much easier the way homeowners would apply and install their equipment in their homes. Homeowners will now find it easy to install energy related technologies including solar panels, photovoltaic cells, and wind turbines. (House of Commons, 2007, p. 40)

But there are always sceptics to any project or activity. An agency known as Micropower Council (House of Commons, 2007, p. 40) commented that the Microgeneration Strategy has no budget for its various programmes, has no staff but only one employee. It further said that the agency launched by the government lacked focus and commitment in order to implement its projects for micro-generation.

This goes to show that there are many barriers in the uptake promotion of micro-generation project of the government. The people there still do not know where to get their acts together to make micro-generation a successful endeavour for the people of the UK.

The high capital costs of micro energy and micro-renewable technology, lack of understanding of the technology, and lack of knowledge where to find source of funds, are the main barriers to micro energy generation up take and reduction in climate change by domestic users.

References

Beith, R., Burdon, I. and Knowles, M., 2004. Introduction – the changing energy scene and how micro energy can play a part. In: M. Knowles, ed. 2004. Micro energy systems: review of technology, issues of scale and integration. UK: Professional Engineering Publishing. Ch. 1.

Caird, S. and Roy, R., 2010. Adoption and use of household micro generation heat technologies. Low Carbon Economy, vol. 1, no. 2, pp.61–70.

Clinch, J. P., Healy, J. and King, C., 2001. Modelling improvements in domestic energy efficiency. Environmental Modeling & Software, vol. 16, no. 1, pp.87–106.

DTI, 2005. Potential for microgeneration: study and analysis. Final Report, London.

Genus, A., n.d. Changing the rules? Regimes, niches and the transition to microgeneration. Available at: www.dime-eu.org/files/active/0Genus.pdf

House of Commons, 2007. Climate change: the “citizen’s agenda”, eighth report of session 2006-07, Vol. 1: Report, together with formal minutes. London, UK: The Stationery Office Limited.

House of Lords, 2008. The economics of renewable energy: evidence. London, UK: The Stationery Office Limited.

Keirstead, J., 2006. Evaluating the applicability of integrated domestic energy consumption frameworks in the UK. Energy Policy, vol. 34, no. 17, pp.3065-77.

Sauter, R. and Watson, J., 2007. Strategies for the deployment of micro generation: implications for social acceptance. Energy Policy, vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 2770–79.

Walker, G. et al., 2007. Harnessing community energies: explaining and evaluating community-based localism in renewable energy policy in the UK. Global Environmental Politics, 7, 2, pp. 64-82.

Watson, J., 2004. Co-provision in sustainable energy systems: the case of micro generation. Energy Policy, vol. 13, no. 3, pp.1981–90.

Watson, J. et al., 2008. Domestic micro-generation: economic, regulatory and policy issues for the UK. Energy Policy, Volume 36, Issue 8, Pages 3095.

Wolven, L. E., 2001. Life-styles and energy consumption. Energy, 16(6):959.

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