The UK government implements regulatory policies to guide business activity, including the use of advanced fuels in various sectors. For instance, rules are in place that restrict foreign ownership of strategic private sector companies. These regulations ensure that critical assets, especially those involved in innovative and essential industries like advanced fuels, remain under domestic control and contribute to national security and economic stability.
5 New Ways How UK Government Policies Are Changing Advanced Fuels
1. Renewable Energy Target for Advanced Fuels
The UK government has long championed renewable energy. Today, they continue that legacy with an ambitious new program to develop small modular reactors.
Solar and wind electricity have become key players in our energy mix, but reducing carbon intensity of heating and transport is also vital in reaching net zero emissions.
Mandatory renewable energy targets are an effective tool for increasing the share of renewables in the economy. They require electricity merchandisers to source a certain percentage of sales from renewable sources within an established timeline; unlike fossil fuel subsidies that go directly to oil and gas companies, meeting this target doesn’t increase electricity costs for consumers.
This latest revision to the legislation underscores its significance as a policy framework that facilitates transitioning towards low-carbon energy systems, rather than simply increasing renewables. For instance, it makes renewables more easily deployable for heating and cooling – which account for 75% of EU energy consumption – by setting binding targets for using them within these sectors. You can click the click: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ to learn more.
This initiative also establishes improved criteria to ensure bioenergy is produced sustainably, while making renewable energy projects simpler and quicker to secure permits through shorter application periods and the establishment of renewables acceleration areas.
Furthermore, it seeks to promote hydrogen use for transport and industry sectors where electrification is currently unfeasible through binding targets introduced for hydrogen use.
2. UK Government Green Deal
The Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives with the ultimate aim of making the European Union climate neutral by 2050. It supports transition to a more sustainable economy and society while being fair for all EU citizens, providing policies in energy, environment, transport, industry, agriculture and sustainable finance that interlink.
The European Commission’s “Circular Economy Action Plan for a Cleaner and More Competitive Europe” is one of the primary goals of its Green Deal initiative.
This action plan encourages sustainable consumption by keeping resources within the economy for as long as possible; furthermore it advocates using vehicle fuels with lower emissions and greater efficiency like HVO Fuel from Syntech in order to reduce carbon footprints, waste generation and show companies as environmentally conscious entities. This creates a win-win situation for all parties.
One may criticize politicians and political expediency, but global warming has quickly moved from the margins to the center of European policy making. This shift has been propelled not only by protesters, but also by extreme events such as Australian, Siberian and Brazilian wildfires; summer heatwaves; glacier melt; coastal floods; and steadily increasing atmospheric CO2 levels.
As another concern, EU member nations fear being left behind when it comes to technology transitioning toward greener solutions, particularly considering that China has taken control of much of the solar and electric car industries while the US has pulled back from Paris commitments.
3. Carbon Capture and Storage
CCS technology helps us reduce carbon emissions that arise during electricity generation, industrial processes such as steel and cement production, or fossil fuel extraction.
By employing post combustion, oxyfuel or pre-combustion techniques adapted to existing power plants or installed as part of new build power stations – post-combustion or pre-combustion capture.
Pre-combustion capture technologies which capture carbon dioxide before it escapes into the atmosphere – CCS captures it before being transported permanently stored thereby mitigating climate change impacts.
Carbon dioxide can be stored underground in depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline aquifers or by reacting with iron oxide to create mineral-based carbonates, while it can also be used for enhanced oil recovery by pumping carbon dioxide into oilfields to force out remaining pockets of fossil fuel reserves that remain trapped beneath.
As part of its pledge to have five commercial SAF plants up and running by 2025, the UK government is exploring a revenue certainty scheme to bolster SAF production here in Britain.
Furthermore, a PS180.2 Million Advanced Fuels Fund is being established in order to accelerate development of different SAF technologies while supporting establishment of an accredited fuel testing clearing house in Britain.
4. Energy Efficiency
Increased energy efficiency helps lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and pollution, cut water usage, and brings down utility system costs. Furthermore, energy efficiency also provides an effective means of mitigating risk and managing volatility of energy prices and volatility.
GHG emissions reduction strategies include renewables, reduced electricity demand and increasing efficiency. Energy efficiency is by far the most cost-effective of these, as it reduces fossil fuel extraction and processing needs, lowers energy prices and makes renewable energy more accessible.
Attaining higher energy efficiency requires more than simply investing in efficient technology; it requires cultural changes across households and businesses as well as government policy to support this shift. Peak shaving or time-of-use tariffs may help promote energy efficiency measures by encouraging people to shift their consumption during off-peak periods (i.e. night).
Over the past decade, there has been a notable surge in efficiency investment; however, progress slowed significantly during the second half of 2010 due to Covid-19 pandemic and needs to double during this decade in order to reach net zero emissions.
Gaining greater efficiency also contributes to healthier living, particularly for children and the elderly. Studies suggest that cutting energy consumption by 15% for one year would save six lives daily and save $20 billion in health care costs associated with asthma, heart disease and respiratory illness related to fossil fuel-burning power plants that release particles causing these health conditions, while idle vehicles release harmful gasses into the environment causing air pollution.
The UK is moving ahead with plans to introduce a revenue certainty scheme that will facilitate SAF production and accelerate uptake, offering producers greater certainty of earnings from producing this low carbon fuel. Furthermore, later this year there will be a major SAF exhibition in order to raise awareness and encourage businesses to invest in SAF production.
