Already well ahead of the targets set out by David MacKay in his 2009 book so often cited by David Desjardins
To the Expositor:
‘Sustainable Energy – Without the Hot Air’ was published in 2009. That’s when we were switching from the old tungsten lights to the modern compact fluorescent…wait, they went a couple of years ago, we’re onto LEDs now. I can see no logical reason (other than our propensity for self-destruction) why technology would not continue to increase the efficiency and reduce the cost of alternative energy systems, at a relatively exponential rate for the foreseeable future.
Mr. Desjardins places an awful lot of faith in David MacKay’s 2009 book. I started with Wikipedia and came up with the following excerpts:
“the Low Carbon Transition Plan of 2009 made clear that by 2020 the UK would need to produce 30 percent of its electricity, 12 percent of its heat and 10 percent of its fuels from renewable sources.”
“The total of all renewable electricity sources provided for 14.9 percent of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom in 2013, reaching 53.7 TWh of electricity generated. In the second quarter of 2015, renewable electricity generation exceeded 25 percent and coal generation for the first time.”
“…, renewable electricity generation increased to a record high of 33.3 percent thanks to a total renewable electricity capacity of 44.4 GW at the end of 2018, a 9.7 percent increase on 2017 which saw 3.9 GW added in 2018.”
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_policy_of_the_United_Kingdom)
So, already ahead of target.
David Samuels
South Baymouth
