Wind generation now meets a significant percentage of electrical demand globally and last year the world added a record 44.8 gigawatts (GW) of wind power, bringing the total to more than 282.5 GW, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
In its annual report for 2012, the IEA said that the global wind power capacity now operating in 100 countries can provide more than 3% of the world’s electricity demand.
The report noted that the IEA believes that 15% to 18% of global electricity can be met by wind energy by 2050.
Think wind turbines cost too much taxpayer money? That the wind farm planned for the neighbourhood will bring down your house price? That you won’t be able to sleep for the noise?
The ‘Act on Facts’ campaign launched by Vestas in Australia in June 2013 and today, 24 October in Sweden, puts the facts on the table and exposes myths like those above for what they are through short videos and an information packed website: www.ActOnFacts.org.
“Wind energy projects are being put at risk by an increasingly organised and influential anti-wind
Significant, concerted action is now required to stop the continued growth of toxic greenhouse gases caused by burning fossil fuels, says the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on global warming.
Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases have increased to levels unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years, the IPCC found.
“CO2 concentrations have increased by 40% since pre-industrial times, primarily from fossil fuel emissions,” the report, released in Stockholm, said, adding it is extremely likely, with at least 95% certainty, that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century.
“Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will cause further warming and changes in all components of the climate system,” the report stated. “Limiting climate change will require substantial and sustained reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.”