Wind Farms - The Energy of the Future
In order to avoid climate change the world needs to cut back on carbon emissions. One way to do this is to use renewable energy such as wind, wave, water and solar power. In the UK the Government plans to concentrate on wind power at the expense of other renewable energy sources – will this be most the efficient renewable energy source for our future planet?
The government has set a target of meeting 15 per cent of all the UK's energy demands from renewables by 2020, which means that between 35 to 45 per cent of electricity will be from green sources. Most of this is expected to be generated by wind farms. Critics feel that wind turbines are large and noisy and that they spoil the countryside ultimately the NIMBY (not-in-my-backyard) attitude persists.
Although wind farms are not appealing onshore, offshore wind farms are proving successful. They are sited at sea where they do not affect the aesthetic appeal of the landscape and being at sea they are in a highly exposed and windy location. BWEA (British Wind Energy Association), the UK's leading renewable energy trade association reports that every home in the UK could be powered by electricity from offshore wind by 2020.
Maria McCaffery, BWEA Chief Executive, said: "We will have a cumulative installed capacity of up to 9 gigawatts (GW) by 2015. Wind will overtake nuclear in terms of installed capacity within the next 4 to 5 years, as an important milestone in reaching 2020."
According to Professor Michael McElroy at Harvard University, in-shore wind farms could supply more than 40 times all the electricity consumed in the world. "A network of land-based 2.5 megawatt turbines operating at as little as 20 per cent of rated capacity, confined to non-forested, ice-free regions would be more than sufficient to account for total current and anticipated future global demand for electricity.’
Britain is considered the windiest country in Europe and is a world leader in its number of offshore wind turbines and according to the report could easily supply its electricity needs many times over.
Wind power is popular in other parts of the world including Denmark, Germany, Canada, Brazil, China, Japan and USA where wind farms are already supplying customer’s electricity needs. The largest wind farms are in the USA which has a wind power capacity of 21 000 MW enough to supply 4.9 million average households.
The global plan is to reduce carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels and replace this with energy from renewable sources. What about other sources of renewable energy? Solar panels are one way forward. Spain is leading the field of solar power and by 2015, it will generate more than 2GW of power from the sun. Spanish companies are also exporting their technology around the world to countries in the "sun-belt" around the equator including desert regions in the southern United States, north Africa, Mexico, China and India.
It is estimated that if solar panels were set up in just a small proportion of the Sahara Desert they could produce power equivalent to the whole world’s electricity demands. The technology, best suited to the desert regions of the world, could also create hundreds of thousands of new jobs and save millions of tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere.
Other ways forward are to use carbon capture techniques, for instance using algae (see Topic of the Future), wave and tidal energy and biomass energy. These energies can provide clean power indefinitely into the future.
As well as being used on a grand scale renewables can be used successfully on a small scale. For instance, solar panels on individual homes can provide energy needs and biogas from animal manure can provide the energy requirements for cooking and heating water in Indian villages.
To meet our transport needs new technology is being developed such as hydrogen fuel cells. People are also more aware about using transport and eating locally produced food to avoid unnecessary carbon emissions from air miles.
Flights are particularly problematic as carbon dioxide released at high altitude causes 2-4 times as much warming as carbon dioxide released on the Earth’s surface. New technologies such as more efficient engines will help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Ultimately, people need to consider whether they really need to fly – can they holiday in the UK instead?
Meat production accounts for nearly a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions so by eating less meat you can reduce your impact on climate change. This is often overlooked as most people tend to focus on trying to reduce their flying and driving. It is easier however to change eating habits compared to changing means of transport.
Considering that deforestation creates more carbon dioxide than all the world’s trucks, cars and buses and preventing rainforest destruction, protecting forests and planting trees should remain a top priority.
Governments plan to cut carbon emissions with renewable energy sources such as wind farms but as citizens of Our Future Planet you can play a part by supporting wind farms in your area rather than blocking plans. You can also consider ways of reducing your own carbon footprint by using public transport, walking to work if you can or working from home and holidaying in your own areas. You may have other ideas to help tackle climate change. On a quest for the greatest plan to tackle climate change, The Manchester Report highlights twenty ideas that could save the world. What are your thoughts? Have your say. We welcome your thoughts and proposals. Add your comment below. Not a Citizen? Sign up
Wind energy has a tremendous future in India.The cost factor is a big item in favor of wind energy. The cost of wind energy is very competitive with the cost of electricity genarated with fossil fuels. Also, India can manufacture its own wind turbines, it does not need to import them. That helps the economy because it is better for the balance of payments.
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