It wasn’t clear at first if the United Kingdom’s failure to set a renewable energy target past 2020 would discourage green development. But now we know it has done exactly that.
Disappointed with the government’s flip-flopping in its support of renewable energy, Community Wind Power (CWP) has now abandoned plans to build wind farms in Lancashire and Cornwall.
The government seems to be contradicting itself at best. Last December it announced it would shift support from onshore to offshore wind farms, and now the Department of Energy and Climate Change says its “ambition for onshore wind hasn't changed.” But onshore developers say the ministry plans an auction process that would crash prices and/or prohibit the selling of green energy altogether.
Labour says all this “chopping and changing” is bad for business, and CWP, which just pulled its $millions of investments in wind power, says other companies will do the same, at a substantial cost to local communities.
Ask the UK to stop flip-flopping and make a bigger and firm commitment to renewable energy.
We, the undersigned, find the UK’s position on renewable energy to be contradictory and detrimental to green development.
Although government spokesmen announced to the press in December that the country was simply balancing its support between offshore and onshore wind development, critics say the unpredictability of the government’s stand, alone, is bad for business.
Furthermore, the government, which says it supports renewable energy, seems to act in a way that contradicts that claim by putting up barriers to development like the auction process CWP criticizes. Some feel it’s putting objections involving aesthetics ahead of what’s best for the environment and green development.
Onshore wind farms make good use of the land and encourage local farming by paying farmers for allowing turbines on land that can still be easily farmed.
Those concerned about aesthetics seem to forget that windmills have been used on farms for centuries, and that damage to our ecosystem is a far bigger concern than aesthetics. Wind turbines can later be removed, but pollution can have permanent, devastating effects.
According to a report in the Guardian, onshore sites like Scotland’s Ardrossan Wind Farm have been "overwhelmingly accepted by local people.“ One town councillor was quoted as saying that “’Instead of spoiling the landscape, locals believe it has enhanced the area: "The turbines are impressive looking, bring a calming effect to the town and, contrary to the belief that they would be noisy, we have found them to be silent workhorses.’”
We ask the UK not only to stand firm on its stated goals, but to make a bigger commitment to renewable energy.
Thanks for your time.
