Microgeneration Renewable Energy

If there is one thing the British has learnt, it is the ‘kiasu’ spirit of Singaporean. Casting covetous eyes on the triumph of Germany for having successfully aided 400,000 homes to install solar panels in a bid to harness renewable energy, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, was last week announced that the United Kingdom will jump on the clean energy bandwagon and pledged an identical ‘cashback’ strategy – feed-in tariffs in the country.

How does it work? Facile. Start installing solar panels on your rooftop, the more the merrier of course, and let the magic works to generate energy for your personal dwelling. And if you happen to have your brain switched on and thus remembering to switch off your laptop or heater when you are not needing them, you may have an energy surplus which the grid is willing to purchase at an agreed price. If not, you are at least having the privilege to escape from the ever escalating home energy bills, or simply the nightmare to relentlessly scouting around for better energy deal that saves you only a few pence. Whoopee!

Sounds brilliant, no? All one has to do is just to install solar panels. If Germans can excel it, if Bangladeshis have no sweat following, certainly the British is capable of a sheer replication. But how viable is this so-called microgeneration renewable energy going to succeed in the United Kingdom remains dubious.

First and foremost, the sun, where the dominant source of energy is converted by solar panel into usable electricity is undeniably on luxurious demand at the British Isle. Comparatively lower than Germany and doubtless for Bangladesh, Britain is only enjoying a derisory 1500 hours (approximately 62 days) of average annual sunshine. Missing sunshine in a solar panel is synonymous with driving an eco-friendly electric car without the battery. Disastrous failure is its destiny. Just how economically attractive it is to invest in solar panels when they are only functional at 17pc of the time in a year?

Installing solar panels isn’t something for nothing. The success in Germany isn’t purely driven by advocacy to clean energy but also government’s incentive. Similarly, it took the provision of microcredit loans to the people before the villages in Bangladesh were illuminated. However, a recent report prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) specifically pinpointed that the United Kingdom simply having no more fund for more fiscal injection into the economy is certainly raising an alarming alert to the proposed solar scheme. Exacerbated by acrimonious debates in the parliament on spending cut after the next general election, the microgeneration of clean energy scheme has officially mired into premature death trap.

The naive government can of course faithfully hoping people to make irrational and random decisions to fork out money and support the green scheme. But of course, this is inconceivable, especially under the current economic climate. Perhaps it is again time for the British to trawl for knowledge and expertise from the outside, for example, the Turks on how they make solar panel installation feasible in literally every household whilst keeping the cost to effectively affordable.

Indeed it is complimentary to actively promote the microgeneration renewable energy campaign since it engages individuals and communities and make them aware of their responsibility and the roles they could play in contributing to a greener planet. Undeniably this will shed the burden off the government’s shoulders for hefty investment in macro-scale scheme such as onshore and offshore windmill farms and wave energy converter. 

However, if the government is ruminating to meet the ever more stringent environmental target for power generation, where Britain is set to increase the proportion of renewable energy from 2pc to 15pc in 2015, enormous investment and proper management are inevitable. Again, I reckon there are learning examples which the government can deploy. Danish is consistently leading in the realm of renewable energy through continuous improvement on existing technologies for a more effective harvest of natural resources. Certainly there is a thing or two for the British? And let’s remind the British government with the Danish example again. Instead of solar, the attention of large scale renewable energy schemes shall be fixed at wind and wave where these are abundant in the region.

Perhaps if the government is contemplating to put the responsibility of clean energy on the shoulders of its people, then I would definitely suggest micro wind energy converter which could be installed on rooftop. This certainly will prevent complaints on severe gust that risk blowing off the roof tiles or breaking an umbrella for the thousandth time. Or maybe even a state-of-the-art device that could convert the inexorable noise from ambulance sirens and traffics to usable energy at home. At least it will render the annoying disturbance of these sources slightly more tolerable.

Why not? Again, the message is about micro. Everything could be done in small scale and from home. So much about Britain, hello Malaysia, have you learnt anything?