Avoiding Fossil Fuel Costs With Wind Power In Europe (Essay Sample)

Wind power in Europe
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Title3Abstract3Introduction3The history of wind power in Europe3Wind power replacing fossil fuel in Europe4Advantages of wind energy that will help avoid fossil fuel costs in Europe5The future of wind power in Europe6Conclusion7
Avoiding fossil fuel costs with wind power in Europe
Abstract
Energy is an important aspect of life. Without energy, a large number of people would be left in the dark, hungry and cold. The main source of energy in the world is fossil fuels. The most dominant fossil fuels used by many developing and industrialized nations are oil, natural and coal. Of these three types of fossil fuels, Oil is the most used in providing energy, followed by coal then, natural gas. This paper aims at evaluating some of the best ways of avoiding fossil fuel costs with wind power in Europe.
Introduction
Europe is at an energy crossroad situation. As a continent, Europe largely relies on fossil fuels as the main source of energy at this time of increasing energy demand and declining supply. The continuous use of fossil fuel in Europe causes not only massive environmental deterioration but also imposes huge economic costs. It’s the right time for the whole of Europe to choose between continuing suffering under fossil fuel or chose to pay and invest in a new renewable energy source like wind power (Heier, 2014, PP. 124-126).
The consequences of continuing with the current fossil fuel consumption for energy in Europe are huge. As per now, European private and commercial energy consumers are spending close to $1 trillion each year on fossil fuel and still suffer the immense costs of pollution from coal, natural gas, and oil which cause serious damage to the environment and human health. There is an urgent need to finding a permanent solution to this problem. Luckily, European policymakers have recently taken the first small steps toward achieving a clean energy future. The move to embrace measures such as the adoption of renewable energy will encourage energy efficiency in the future. Many European nations are turning towards wind, hydroelectric and solar as their sources of energy. This move will help curb global warming as it will reduce pollution since fossil fuel usage will be minimized, ramp up the use of solar and wind power, and control global warming pollution. Furthermore, renewable energy sources are cheap and occur naturally hence will help in the reduction of energy costs (Yaramasu, et, all, 2015, pp. 742-758).
The history of wind power in Europe
Wind power has been in use for a very long time to generate electricity in Europe. Many people in Europe have been converting wind into usable energy throughout history. Earlier generations in countries like Poland, Ireland, and Scotland were known to construct small windmills that provided electricity used for powering their rural homes. They were used for powering water pumps and also converted wind into usable electricity for homes.
However, in the early 1930s, many European nations started extending their national grid lines to rural lines which forced the replacement of windmill generated electricity by the electricity generated from power plants that burnt fossil fuels like coal and oil. The gradual transformation resulted in the disappearance of wind power in most rural areas in Europe (Gallego-Castillo, et, all, 2015, pp. 1149-1155).
Nevertheless, the recent urge to find an environmentally friendly source of energy has brought back windmills for power generating. Many European countries are investing heavily in modern and advanced wind machines for having wind energy. Modern technology has now made it possible to produce clean, cost-effective, and renewable wind energy.
Wind power replacing fossil fuel in Europe
Even though Europe has not reached the point where renewable energy sources have completely replaced the fossil fuels sources, it's undeniable that most of the European nations are warming up to the idea of making wind and solar power their permanent source of energy. In fact, many parts of Europe have already felt the effects of such a paradigm shift from fossil fuel to wind power. In 2017, Britain began producing double the quantity of electricity from wind power than coal, making 2017 the greenest year ever witnessed in the United Kingdom. This reduced the cost of electricity since wind power as reusable and naturally available.
In Ireland for instance, the government invested heavily in offshore wind turbines in the Irish Sea that produced wind power amounting to almost 90% of all the new electricity capacity added to the national power line. The increase in electricity generation due to wind power lead to the closure of some of the fossil fuel plants. Fuel cost was lowered as well (Pérez-Collazo, Greaves, & Iglesias, 2015, pp. 142-149).
Fig A: Offshore wind power plant in Ireland
There is no doubt; we’re sure to see wind power become a real contributor to energy in Europe. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency report published in 2017, wind power will play a huge role in reducing the cost of energy. By 2020, most European countries will have made significant progress in converting from fossil fuel dependence to wind power.
Even though the cost of installing wind power may be high as per now, the cost is projected to fall below the costs of most fossil fuels. Many European nations’ fossil fuel generations cost approximately $0.05 - $0.17 per kilowatt hour. This cost of electricity in Europe is expected to decrease to $0.03 - $0.10 per kilowatt hour by 2020 thanks to the many onshore and offshore wind power projects across Europe. Presently, the majority of the offshore wind projects are somehow costly. With time, the cost of these projects is expected to drop making the cost of power affordable. The reduction in the cost of wind power will surely make it hard for the fossil fuel energy source to survive in the future (Connolly, Lund, & Mathiesen, 2016, pp. 1634-1653).
Advantages of wind energy that will help avoid fossil fuel costs in Europe
One of the greatest advantages associated with wind power that makes it easy for many European nations to tap electricity is because of it’s a renewable energy source. Wind is naturally available and can be used on a continuous basis without being exhausted regardless of the magnitude of consumption. It’s therefore easy for many European nations to harvest and use as much wind power as they may wish.
Even though the initial cost of installing wind turbines is high, it offers a long-lasting source of power as it requires minimal maintenance. After installation of wind power harvesting equipment, there are very minimal costs to be incurred after that since wind comes free from nature. Another advantage of wind power that will help in avoiding fossil fuel costs is its abundance in almost all European nations. Wind is naturally occurring; it can be used at any place to generate electricity in Europe without incurring extra costs like transportation, and storage.
Wind power can be obtained from any location be it cities, rural area, onshore or offshore. Furthermore, the cost of harvesting wind power is slightly lower when compared the cost of harvesting power from other energy sources. This is because wind power harvesting that needs the construction of specialized facilities like those for petroleum, coal or natural gas. The ...