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Renewable energy can be divided into generation of renewable electricity and the generation of renewable heat. From the mid-1990s renewable energy began to contribute to the electricity generated in the United Kingdom, adding to a small hydroelectricity generating capacity. The total of all renewable electricity sources provided for 14.9% of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2013,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Department of Energy and Climate Change: Annual tables: ‘Digest of UK energy statistics’ (DUKES) - Chapter 6: Renewable Sources of energy )〕 reaching 53.7 TWh of electricity generated. In the second quarter of 2015, renewable electricity penetration exceeded 25% and coal generation for the first time.〔http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/24/renewable-energy-outstrips-coal-for-first-time-in-uk-electricity-mix〕 Renewable energy contributions to meeting the UK's 15% target reduction in total energy consumption by 2020, in accordance with the 2009 EU Renewable Directive, was 5.2% in 2013 as measured in accordance with the methodology set out in the Directive.〔 Interest in renewable energy in the UK has increased in recent years due to new UK and EU targets for reductions in carbon emissions and the promotion of renewable electricity power generation through commercial incentives such as the Renewable Obligation Certificate scheme (ROCs) and Feed in tariffs (FITs) and the promotion of renewable heat through the Renewable Heat Incentive. Historically hydroelectric schemes were the largest producers of renewable electricity in the UK, but these have now been surpassed by wind power schemes, for which the UK has large potential resources. == History == Renewable heat energy, in the form of biofuels, dates back to 415,000 BP in the UK. Uranium series dating and thermoluminescence dating give evidence to the use of wood fires at the site of Beeches Pit, Suffolk. Waterwheel technology was imported to the country by the Romans, with sites in Ikenham and Willowford in England being from the 2nd century AD. At the time of the compilation of the Domesday Book (1086), there were 5,624 watermills in England alone, only 2% of which have not been located by modern archaeological surveys. Later research estimates a less conservative number of 6,082, and it has been pointed out that this should be considered a minimum as the northern reaches of England were never properly recorded. In 1300, this number had risen to between 10,000 and 15,000. Windmills first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest certain reference to a windmill in Europe (assumed to have been of the vertical type) dates from 1185, in the former village of Weedley in Yorkshire which was located at the southern tip of the Wold overlooking the Humber estuary. The first electricity-generating wind turbine was a battery charging machine installed in July 1887 by Scottish academic James Blyth to light his holiday home in Marykirk, Scotland. In 1878 the world's first hydroelectric power scheme was developed at Cragside in Northumberland, England by William George Armstrong. It was used to power a single Arc lamp in his art gallery. However, almost all electricity generation thereafter was based on burning coal. In 1964 coal accounted for 88% of electricity generation, and oil was 11%. The remainder was mostly supplied by hydroelectric power, which continued to grow its share of electricity generation as coal struggled to meet demand. The world's first pumped-storage hydroelectric power station, the Cruachan Dam in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, became fully operational in 1967. The Central Electricity Generating Board attempted to experiment with wind energy on the Lleyn Peninsula in Wales during the 1950s, but this was shelved after local opposition.〔 Renewable energy experienced a turning point in the 1970s with the 1973 oil crisis, miners' strike (1972), growing environmentalism and wind energy development in the United States exerting pressure on the government. In 1974, the Central Policy Review Staff made the recommendation that ‘the first stage of a full technical and economic appraisal of harnessing wave power for electricity generation should be put in hand at once.’ Wave power was seen to be the future of the nation's energy policy, and solar, wind, and tidal schemes were dismissed as 'impractical'. Nevertheless, an alternative energy research centre was opened in Harwell, although it was criticised for favouring nuclear power. By 1978, four wave energy generator prototypes had been designed which were later deemed to expensive. The Wave Energy Programme closed in the same year.〔 During this period, there was a large increase in installations of solar thermal collectors to provide hot water. In 1986, Southampton began pumping heat from the geothermal borehole through a district heating network. Over the years, several combined heat and power (CHP) engines and backup boilers for heating have been added, along with absorption chillers and backupvapour compression machines for cooling. In 1987 a 3.7MW demonstration wind turbine on Orkney began supplying electricity to homes, the largest in Britain at the time. Privatisation of the energy sector in 1989 caused direct governmental research funding to cease. Two years later the UK's first onshore windfarm was opened in Delabole, Cornwall. The farm consists of 10 turbines and produces enough energy for 2,700 homes. This was followed by the UK's first offshore windfarm in North Hoyle, Wales. The share of renewables in the country's electricity generation has risen from below 2% in 1990 to 14.9% in 2013, helped by subsidy and falling costs. Introduced on 1 April 2002, the Renewables Obligation requires all electricity suppliers who supply electricity to end consumers to supply a set portion of their electricity from eligible renewables sources; a proportion that will increase each year until 2015 from a 3% requirement in 2002-2003, via 10.4% in 2010-2012 up to 15.4% by 2015-2016. The UK Government announced in the 2006 Energy Review an additional target of 20% by 2020-21. For each eligible megawatt hour of renewable energy generated, a tradable certificate called a Renewables obligation certificate(ROC) is issued by OFGEM. In 2007, the United Kingdom Government agreed to an overall European Union target of generating 20% of the European Union's energy supply from renewable sources by 2020. Each European Union member state was given its own allocated target; for the United Kingdom it is 15%. This was formalised in January 2009 with the passage of the EU Renewables Directive. As renewable heat and fuel production in the United Kingdom are at extremely low bases, RenewableUK estimates that this will require 35–40% of the United Kingdom's electricity to be generated from renewable sources by that date, to be met largely by 33–35 GW of installed wind capacity. The 2008 Climate Change Act consists of a commitment to reducing net Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 80% by 2050 (on 1990 levels) and an intermediate target reduction of 26% by 2020. The Green Deal is UK government policy, launched by the Department of Energy and Climate Change on 1 October 2012. It permits loans for energy saving measures for properties in Great Britain to enable consumers to benefit from energy efficient improvements to their home. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Renewable energy in the United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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