Sustainable Energy In Denmark (Essay Sample)

Sustainable Energy in Denmark
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Sustainable Energy in Denmark
Denmark is the pioneer of large-scale production of sustainable energy in the world. About a third of its energy comes from renewable sources such as wind, biomass, and solar. The country has succeeded in implementing a sustainable energy program because it enacted and enforced tough legislations. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the pathways of Denmark from its heavy reliance on foreign energy to the current state of net energy exporter.
Denmark’s path towards sustainable energy sufficiency started after the 1973 energy crisis, which was triggered by an Arab oil embargo on the US and any other country that supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. Since Denmark and Netherlands offered direct military assistance to Israel, they received complete embargos. The embargo severely affected Denmark because it relied almost entirely on imported oil (Kaplan, 2010).
The Danish government initially reacted to the crisis by introducing restrictions on the consumption of oil. The government’s immediate objective was to reduce dependence on foreign oil; it no plans of investing in a sustainable energy program. Some of the oil reduction strategies included strict building codes, mandatory retrofit insulation, and heat planning, a substitution of district heat for oil. The government also funded the conversion of oil power plants to coal (Kaplan, 2010).
In 1981, Denmark introduced the Energy Plan 81, a comprehensive legislation that pursued the generation of green energy in the country. The legislation allocated subsidies to the construction and maintenance of biomass plants and wind turbines across the country. It also mandated the establishment of a nationwide natural gas grid. In addition, it introduced heightened taxes on imported fossil fuels as a way of making energy from biomass and windmill plants more competitive in the market. The policy worked because the government involved all the stakeholders in the energy industry (Kaplan, 2010).
Currently, the state of renewable energy in Denmark is characterized by an increase in the proportion of green energy generated annually. Official statistics for 2012 indicate that wind power contributed 29.8% of the domestic electricity supply. During the same period, the wind power capacity rose from 3592 MW to 4163 MW. Although Denmark is gradually increasing the number of its offshore power plants, the onshore plants still produce the largest quantity of energy from wind. For example, in 2012, the onshore plants generated 3241 MW, which is significantly higher than the 922 MW obtained from offshore plants (Danish Energy Agency, 2012).
Denmark has an ambitious energy program that seeks to eliminate the use of fossil fuels. In the program, the country intends to use 100% renewable energy by 2050. In order to achieve this goal, the country plans to use more efficient technologies, which utilize less power. It also intends to improve the heat efficiency of buildings. In addition, it seeks to improve the energy efficiencies of enterprises. Moreover, the government intends to electrify the country’s energy consumption (The Danish Government, 2011).
Denmark also wants to utilize 100% renewable energy in its production of electricity and heat by 2035. In order to achieve this goal, the country intends to replace its obsolete coal-powered electricity and heat plants with other new plants that utilize renewable energy. It also seeks to ...