The UK will be forced to import 70% of its energy by 2020, British Gas boss claims
Gas imports are likely to account for 70% of all energy being consumed across the UK, British Gas boss Sam Laidlaw has recently stated.
According to a media news report on the matter, Mr. Laidlaw, the CEO of Centrica, who owns British Gas, has complained about the lack of investment in energy generation capabilities across the UK.
He blamed this situation on the mounting political intervention in the energy market, and also argued that, with 80 per cent of UK homes being heated by gas, the country needed to diversify sources. An estimated 3.7 gigawatts of UK coal-fired generating capacity will shut down by the end of 2015 due to European directives to curb emissions.
He said: “In primary energy, the UK’s production of gas is falling rapidly. North Sea oil and gas output has fallen by 38 per cent over the last three years.
“By 2020 we will be reliant on imports to meet 70 per cent of the country’s gas needs. So when it comes to security of supply, there is a pressing need for solutions.”
At this time, close to 50% of the UK’s gas is currently imported, with three-quarters of this being through pipelines from Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands. The rest is imported by sea in liquefied form.
Importing energy is likely to lead to higher prices for end-consumers, and this is specifically the reason why every company out there should seriously consider implementing extensive energy-saving measures designed to reduce their overall bills.
Building Energy Management Systems are capable of delivering extensive monitoring and control options, compared to basic controls. They typically employ data from a variety of sources (boiler flow and return sensors, internal and external temperature sensors, occupancy sensors, humidity sensors, etc.), and enable the perfect optimization of a building’s boiler-based central heating system.
HeatingSave comes packed with a number of features to prevent employees from adjusting the heating controls and leaving them in setting that can waste fuel. The keypad and display on the front of the controller has two levels of password protection.
These passwords can be changed by authorized personnel locally or centrally using the PC software. The password programming meets the requirements laid down by the Carbon Trust, and the PC software is user ID and password protected too.
Naturally, employees do have the right to set the ambient temperature at a value that best suites their needs, and HeatingSave manages this situation by firstly getting the temperature right so people don’t feel too hot or cold. If employees do feel too cold, they can hit a button to increase the room temperature. The heating will be turned up for a while BUT will then automatically turn back – keeping the employee at the right comfort temperature – and saving the employer on their fuel bill.
If you’d like to find out more about the savings enabled by the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System, just contact our dedicated team, they’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.
