Strategies for Energy Efficiency in the UK: Demand Size Response, Distributed Generation, and Demand Reduction

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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Discussion....................................................................................................................................................3
Demand size response.............................................................................................................................4
Key drivers to DSR...............................................................................................................................6
Barriers to DSR implementation..........................................................................................................6
Distributed generation............................................................................................................................6
The key drivers for distributed generation..........................................................................................8
Barriers to distributed generations......................................................................................................8
Demand reduction...................................................................................................................................9
Key drivers to demand reduction......................................................................................................10
Barriers..............................................................................................................................................10
conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
Electricity and energy are key factors for most of the business and home activities to run.
Every home and business needs power or rather energy to do most of the chores and production
activities in the business firms. Production and distribution of energy is an activity that requires
lots of resources so as to meet each and every energy-related consumer need. This, therefore,
calls for lots of funding for energy production projects and therefore in most cases, these projects
or energy producing companies are owned or managed by respective country’s government.
Often energy production companies fail in satisfying their customer needs. an example is
when there is water shortage thereby preventing electricity production. This has been the case in
the United Kingdom and thus led to the growth of some developed strategies from innovative
basics and technologies as ways of dealing with this challenge. Energy supplier in the country
works closely with UK government and relevant stakeholder to ensures that they offer
opportunities to the energy consumers for more efficient energy consumption methods. The
driving force to energy efficiency by the United Kingdom is to help consumers in reducing their
energy consumption and also help in improving the comfort of their homes. In addition to that
and of more important too, the energy efficiency mechanism helps in reduction of the
greenhouse gas emissions thus being environmentally friendly (webx, 2018)
Discussion
One of the major complains expressed by all energy consumer who are families and
business in most cases are heavy energy bills. As a result of the high rate of consumption, and
the infinite need for the energy supply, concerned bodies, and organization in United Kingdom
have come up with several strategies and innovative mechanism to solve the issue of energy
efficiency, however, due to lack of incentives or rather limited availability of incentives for
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energy utility companies to invest in these strategies, it has been challenging for them to adopt
the strategies with a reason for not getting clear financial returns. The challenge comes in when
the companies supply in the energy is low then the demand due to the pressure by the
government to use several schemes. The question and worry revolve around; should new power
stations be constructed or should new strategies be innovated to cater for this challenge? This
discussion will analyze and explain three employed strategies, the driving forces that lead to the
application of each of the strategy in the UK market and barriers in employing or putting into
practice all of the discussed strategies.
The UK government has employed the following key strategies as a way of ensuring
energy efficiency.
1. Demand size response
2. Distributed generation
3. Demand reduction
Demand size response
This is a strategy aimed at balancing the demand and supply of energy to energy consumers with
less need for more energy generation of energy. With this strategy, schemes are created whereby
customers are incentivized financially to lower or even shift their electricity use at peak times
(UK power networks, 2017)The main idea to enable energy consumer change their energy
consumption in response to signals from the national grid at times of peak demand for energy
and this is driven in by paying or rewarding the consumers that agree to this strategy. DSR is
mostly concerned with how electricity or energy will be used rather than how it is generated.
The application of this strategy in the UK helps in the usage of energy more intelligently instead
of electricity generation as a way of meeting short periods of huge demands. For instance, every
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