In just over a decade, Britain has gone from producing more than 100% of the energy requirements for its citizens, (in the form of oil, gas and others sources of energy) to only producing 54% in 2013.
It was a slow decline into dependency, with 15% needed to be imported in 2005, 25% imported in 2008, 35% imported in 2011 and 42% imported in 2012. It would be easy to wave this off as a natural depletion in our energy reserves and a growing European trend to source its energy from abroad; however the figures do not match up. More than 60% of our European neighbours have managed to reduce their reliance on foreign energy imports in the last decade, meaning that Britain has made some serious mistakes along the way.
One such mistake has been the lack of investment in the North Sea oil and gas reserves. With large amounts of shale gas reserves in the UK, indecision about the use of controversial and media blitzed fracking has meant that these reserves are being completely under used; as renewable energy such as solar, wind and hydro-electric sources provide only 17% of Britain’s energy, these non-renewable reserves are the only way to reduce dependency until more Nuclear plants can be brought in and more efficient renewable technology is invested in and developed.
There have been plans to bring in several new Nuclear power plants, but public mistrust in nuclear energy, however misplaced, is a hard fight to win, and much time has been spent convincing those nearby of the safety and usefulness of these modern power sources. Much of the Labour energy policy has been focused on improving renewable energy options, but progress has been slow, with blocks coming from both Tory and fossil fuel interest groups.
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