LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

An ill wind for land turbines 

Credit:  www.bexhillobserver.net 23 April 2012 ~~

Climate change minister Greg Barker, the MP for Bexhill, believes the need for more onshore wind farms has blown itself out, and has said there will be no significant expansion of turbines on land beyond those already approved.

Mr Barker has veered away from previous policy after an announcement by his department that Britain could expect up to 10,000 more land turbines to be constructed provoked an outcry among his fellow Conservative MPs.

More than 100 Tory backbenchers wrote to prime minister David Cameron, branding wind farms “inefficient” and challenging the scale of subsidies paid to the industry.

Last weekend the Sunday Times, in an interview with Mr Barker, learned that he believed there had been an “unbalanced” approach to wind farms in the past so that other power-producing options must now be explored.

Mr Barker’s former boss, ex-energy secretary Chris Huhne (Lib Dem) championed wind power and in December last year called for up to 32,000 more huge propellers to be erected – a third of them onshore.

With the UK currently having some 3,000 onshore turbines and several hundred out to sea, the effect on Britain’s landscape would have been dramatic. But Mr Barker played down the prospect of a further 10,000 onshore turbines, saying that he wants to focus on offshore wind farms.

He said the economic downturn had forced the coalition government to change its approach to green issues to gain better value for money. He told the Sunday Times: “There is a requirement to rethink the economics of green.

“We have to have a more nuanced and sophisticated policy – reducing costs quicker, looking to commercialise sooner and thinking more carefully about the use of public subsidy.”

Michael Bernard, chairman of Bexhill Environmental Group, said: “I find this very concerning.

“The government has already gone back on its deal regarding solar panels, and I wonder how it is going to meet its targets for reducing Britain’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80 per cent by 2050.”

Source:  www.bexhillobserver.net 23 April 2012

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon