In a kingdom frequently divided by disagreement over matters political and beyond, it is heartening to see wind energy getting a resounding “yes” vote. The results of a survey published last week in Belgium show that 86% of Walloons – the French-speakers living in the south of the country – are pro wind energy.

What is most revealing in the results is the confirmation, once again, of the fact that when people live in the vicinity of a wind farm, they become much more actively pro-wind energy. The survey shows that a huge 91% of people with a wind farm in their area are favourable towards wind energy, while for those who do not live near a wind farm the figure is 62%.

And while the ‘NIMBY’ phenomenon is often considered to be one of the biggest obstacles to wind energy development, only 8% of people living near wind turbines said they “feared” the effects beforehand. Just a tiny minority of NIMBYs, then, and the majority of those were proven wrong: for three-quarters of this 8%, the fears proved to be unjustified once the turbines went up. continue reading »

While short on details, the UK government’s Spending Review that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced on Wednesday appears to have understood the vital importance of funding port infrastructure projects aimed at encouraging increased growth in the European offshore wind sector.

Although many national departments face significant funding and personnel cuts, the government did announce it “is committed to reducing the UK’s carbon emissions.”

Part of this commitment was a pledge of “more than [€220 million] for the   development of low carbon technologies including offshore wind technology and manufacturing at port sites.” continue reading »

Imagine a world two decades from now in which a new wind turbine is installed every seven minutes.

That impressive scenario was raised last week in Beijing just before the China Wind Power 2010 conference by Sven Teske, Senior Energy Expert from Greenpeace International.

Teske was commenting on the Global Wind Energy Outlook 2010 report which found wind power could provide about one-fifth of the world’s electricity by 2030. continue reading »

Greenpeace

While many of the EU’s environment ministers are still dithering over a possible move to 30% emissions cuts, it is heartening to see that big businesses are a step ahead.

29 companies, including BNP Paribas, Google, Unilever and Vodafone, have put their names to a declaration calling for tougher climate targets that has been sent to the EU institutions. The declaration supports recent statements from ministers from Denmark, France, Germany and the UK that higher emissions reductions will boost growth and create jobs, a point of view made forcibly by EU Commissioner for Climate Change Connie Hedegaard at an EWEA-organised debate last week in Brussels.

Ironically, the organisation BusinessEurope, which represents EU employers, was claiming almost at the same time that increasing the EU’s emissions reduction target would be “premature and even counterproductive” in a letter to the Belgian EU Presidency. It seems that some in the business community are more far-sighted than others in recognising the huge economic and job creation potential of zero-carbon technologies like wind energy. Certainly EWEA, which has 650 members including many businesses, believes an increase to 30% emissions reductions is crucial for Europe’s economy as well as its environment. continue reading »

A short note to say I am on maternity leave from next week. The blog will be left in the capable hands of regular correspondent Chris Rose, and the Editor of Wind Directions magazine Sarah Azau.

Since the blog was launched in April this year it has gone from strength to strength with a constantly growing number of followers. And there’s plenty more to look forward to on the horizon including live coverage from our GRIDS 2010 conference in Berlin in late November this year.

I look forward to returning to blog editing next Spring!

Zoë Casey