Wind energy was front-page news in the UK this weekend with the revelation that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne plans on cutting subsidies for onshore wind turbines by 25%, a move that would “kill dead” the industry, according to RenewableUK. At the same time, the Chancellor will maintain Government support for nuclear and fossil fuels which account for the largest proportion of Government support for energy.

The news came despite Prime Minister David Cameron’s election campaign promises to be the “greenest government ever” and in the face of a new poll which reveals that a majority of Britons actually want more wind energy.

Forecasting how much households will be paying for their electricity in the coming years is never an easy task and no government, especially in these austerity times, wants to tell the electorate that its policies will lead to increased prices. But the UK government this week published its draft energy bill, offering support for renewables, including wind power, and saying these measures will reduce consumer energy bills.

In today’s Guardian, Simon Jenkins takes issue with the UK government’s support of wind energy. Yet his arguments are one-sided to say the least. He writes that “Meeting the current EU renewables directive, largely from wind, would cost some £15bn a year, or £670 a household”.

Currently, each EU citizen pays considerably more than that – over €700 a year – to import oil and gas from the likes of Russia and Algeria. And the price of imports is constantly changing, mostly in an upwards direction. Wind energy is a domestic European resource which is free once the turbines are up, and which saves money on fuel imports – €5.7 billion were saved thanks to wind energy last year.

As youth unemployment rises in the UK, the need for green jobs and training for young people becomes ever more essential, writes Christopher Ibbet from the UK Youth Climate Coalition…

The UK’s Office for National Statistics recently released its latest figures on unemployment, showing that in last quarter of 2011, 28,000 more people became unemployed, while the number of 16 – 24 year olds out of work rose to 1.04 million.

“Wind farms are noisy.” “We can’t rely on wind because it is intermittent.” “Wind farms are dangerous to human health.” “Wind doesn’t work – wind farms are inefficient as they are only operational 30% of the time.”

These are some of the myths of wind energy that are thoroughly debunked by a new website set up by British Wind at www.british-wind.co.uk. The sentiments above are the type of ill-conceived, badly-informed ideas on wind energy that newspaper readers are subjected to with increasing frequency in the British media.