This week’s article is a guest article from Gary O’Neill BSc(Hons) MRICS, Chartered Building Surveyor, Senior University Lecturer and RICS APC Assessor
If
you are hoping that in the future fuel costs will reach a peak and then start
to reduce then I am afraid you are going to be bitterly disappointed. There may well be short term reductions,
however it is inevitable that fuel cost
will not only continue to rise, but rise significantly.
 |
| http://www.kilmacenergy.co.uk/Environmental+Impact+Assessment/ |
There is no shortage of media coverage in respect of
the impact of global warming, climate change, energy conservation,
sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions an so on........ An individual’s
understanding and concern about these issues will vary significantly from those
who have a genuine concern about protecting our planet for future generations
to those who’s work may be directly related to these issues, right through to
those who know very little and even those who make a conscious choice to ignore
them! The problem is however that even
if you are one of those who fall into the latter categories, it does not change
the fact that you are effected in exactly the same way as everyone else. This is no more starkly demonstrated than in
the increased cost of energy over recent years, which have soared to record
levels.
Over the last two hundred years we have become
dependent on fossil fuels such as gas, oil and coal, which have allowed us to
develop our world at a staggering pace.
All of this development in terms of infrastructure, buildings and the
like requires large amount of energy, to heat, cool, ventilate, provide light
and power etc. If we are to maintain or
more than likely going to increase the rate of development around the world
then we also need to consider alternative ways of creating this energy. The problem with fossil fuels is that it is a
depleting resource and at some point in the future it will run out. Now this is unlikely to be in our generation
or possibly even a number of generations in the future, but one thing is for
certain in that it will actually run out.
If you are under the impression that we should not be concerned about
this now, as it will not have any major impact on us in our lifetime then think
again!
The problem with anything that is in short supply is
that basic economical principles come into play. Fossil fuels are a prime example of
this. Remember they are a depleting
resource and therefore a commodity in short supply. The impact of this is that when demand is
high (which it always is) and supply is limited (which it is), then market
conditions allow energy providers to increase costs as they know that they are
providing something that people actually need.
The market then adjusts to these increased costs. The graph below demonstrates the cost
increase of oil, gas and electricity over the next twenty years:
 |
| http://www.castlecover.co.uk/historic-home-utility-prices/ |
‘Rather
unsurprisingly, all four demonstrate price hikes over the period, though some
are more dramatic than others. Electricity and gas - the two most-used
household energies - have nearly doubled over the last seven years of the
index, owing to their ties with oil prices, as well as a number of other factors.
The industrialisation of foreign nations, plus growing international prices for
the commodity, has forced coal costs higher for UK citizen’
If you are hoping that in the future fuel costs will
reach a peak and then start to reduce then I am afraid you are going to be
bitterly disappointed. There may well be
short term reductions, however due to the economical principles described above
it is inevitable that fuel cost will not only continue to rise, but rise
significantly. Of course, the majority of articles that you will see in the
media focus on the damage to the environment caused by greenhouse gas
emissions, particularly carbon, from the burning of fossil fuels. This is something that we need to deal with
immediately, however I would suggest that if you were to talk to most people on
the high street they would be more concerned about the increase in fuel cost
rather than the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The positive thing however, is that if we can
create energy by using alternative renewable technologies then we can deal with
both issues at the same time!
 |
| http://www.link2portal.com/no-more-pv-subsidy-energy-inefficient-buildings-greg-barker |
For the remainder of this article I will continue to
demonstrate the financial effect of creating and using energy from fossil fuels,
which is happening and impacting on us all right now! The Fuel Property Advisory Group’s 2011-12
annual report, in its executive summary states (link): ‘The
average domestic dual fuel bill is now at a record high of £1,365 per annum
creating severe additional hardship for some six million UK fuel poor
households. The problem is even more acute for many living off the gas grid
using Oil or LPG, where average fuel bills are circa £2,100 per annum. The reference to ‘fuel poor’ is more
widely described as fuel poverty, which is defined by Poverty.org.uk (Link) as:
‘Households are considered by the Government to be in 'fuel poverty' if
they would have to spend more than 10% of their
household income on fuel to keep their home in a 'satisfactory' condition.
It is thus a measure which compares income with what the fuel costs 'should be'
rather than what they actually are. Whether a household is in fuel
poverty or not is determined by the interaction of a number of factors, but the
three obvious ones are: The cost of energy, The energy efficiency of the
property (and therefore, the energy required to heat and power the home) and
Household income’
It is abundantly clear that many in the UK are already suffering
financial hardship as a result of increasing energy costs, and unless we can
find alternative ways of creating our energy, then this situation is likely to become
critical. Increased demand of a
depleting resource is a recipe for disaster.
We therefore have to introduce alternatives, which is now a necessity
not a choice. If you are in one of those
categories described at the beginning of this article who have not really paid
much attention to these global issues, perhaps it is now time to think very
carefully about how you individually and all of us collectively can save energy
and also be open new technologies. This will not only provide benefits from a
financial viewpoint, which may not be immediate (although costs associated with
enhancements is an article in its own right!), but also from an environmental
viewpoint, where we can start to have a real impact on reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.
I’ve migrated to gain further control to expand the content; you can find my new polished website at;
Please feel free to come over and look at the new set up and design as well as the latest article on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems for Green Roofs (SUDS). The article is a follow up to the previous article on To Green of Not to Green? This article will be focusing more on the technical aspects, in particular Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, otherwise known as SUDS.
All the previous articles on architecture, tech and BIM are over at the new site
Thank you for visiting Architect-BIM and I hope you continue to follow us over at the new site- www.architect-bim.com
Danny McGough- A big thank you this week to Gary O'Neill for this guest article. You can follow Gary over at his personal blog 'Surveying
Property' where he posts articles on a weekly basis on topical issues in
Surveying and Property related areas and also within the wider Construction
Industry at - http://surveyingproperty.blogspot.co.uk/
Information/opinions
posted on this site are the personal views of the author and should not be
relied upon by any person or any third party without first seeking further
professional advice. Also, please scroll down and read the copyright
notice at the end of the blog.
