Offshore wind energy in Germany took a huge leap forward today after Angela Merkel, German Chancellor, officially opened the country’s first offshore wind farm in the Baltic Sea.
The farm – known as Baltic 1 – is built by Energie Baden-Württemberg (EnBW) and consists of 21 2.3MW turbines which together will be able to power the equivalent of 50,000 households.
Politicians who are reluctant to accept that wind power and other renewables could be the driving force behind Europe achieving a low-carbon future in the next 40 years should read a new report that says the nuclear industry is in decline.
Published by the Worldwatch Institute in Washington D.C. a global environmental research organisation, and with the support of the Greens-EFA party in the European Parliament, the 84-page report noted that annual capacity additions of renewables have been outpacing nuclear start-ups for the past 15 years.
Here at the European Wind Energy Association we often talk about the power of wind energy to fight climate change, create jobs and improve energy security at a European level, but we rarely take time to reflect on how wind energy can directly impact the lives of people in the poorer regions of the world.
Wind energy can help turn around the fortunes of local communities by doing something as simple as providing a continuous source of water for irrigation. In Mipandi, situated in the Northern Province in eastern Mozambique, wind energy is set to do just that.
An online discussion forum named Comment: Visions is featuring a pertinent discussion on energy and environment issues this month: ‘How can government and industry win public support for new low-carbon technologies’?
While I encourage you to browse the forum itself, here are some interesting quotes from the discussion:
Rémi Gruet, Senior Regulatory Affairs Advisor on Climate and Environment from EWEA, emphasises that public support already exists: “The October 2010 EU opinion poll (Eurobarometer on biotechnologies) starts with a simple question: Do you think the following technologies will have a positive or negative impact on your life? Answers from EU citizens are unequivocal: 82% think wind energy will have a positive impact.”
Doctors, nurses and lung specialists in Ontario will launch an expensive advertising campaign to promote wind and solar power over the continued use of coal plants in Canada’s most populated province.
The Ontario College of Family Physicians, the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the Ontario Lung Association, and the Asthma Society of Canada have agreed to launch the pro-renewables campaign in advance of a provincial election held later this year.
