Cross-posted from the Estonian Wind Power Association’s blog – November 11, 2011
If you type green, clean, modern, renewable or wind energy into a Google images search the results are mainly images of wind power plants and farms, said Werner Nystrand, the Swedish photographer, who spoke at last month’s Wind Power Conference in Tallinn and who takes breathtakingly beautiful pictures of wind power plants and their surroundings.
Everybody knows the symbols of Paris and Sydney – Eiffel Tower and Opera House. And today everybody also knows the symbol of clean energy – a wind turbine. These symbols are easy to draw and therefore easy to remember and people relate them to emotions and values. These values and emotions are not actually in the symbol but through cultural impressions we associate these values with the symbol.
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Environmental organisations and electricity operators are backing the modernisation and expansion of European power grids to unlock the full potential of renewables.
In a letter sent to Günther Oettinger, European commissioner for energy, nine national grid operators, 10 environmental organisations – including BirdLife International and WWF – and five other organisations said they backing the European Commission’s energy infrastructure plans published last month.
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“Fossil fuels got six times more aid than clean energy, IEA says” – Bloomberg
“World headed for irreversible climate change in five years, IEA warns” – Guardian
“IEA warns on global energy policies” – Financial Times
These are just three of the headlines on the International Energy Agency’s 2011 World Energy Outlook published on Wednesday and widely reported by the world’s media.
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The EU Commissioner for Climate Change emphasised the role of targets in boosting investments in renewable energy at an EWEA event last night.
“It makes good business sense to invest in renewables yet people aren’t doing it”, said Commissioner Connie Hedegaard, pointing out that “this is one lesson we’ve learned in Europe in the last ten years – it helps when we have targets and it helps even more when we have binding targets.”
Earlier in the debate, she specifically referred to her “hope” for “milestones” in the European Commission’s upcoming 2050 Energy Roadmap, due out in December.
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While the US experienced a significant dip in new installed wind power capacity last year due to the ongoing financial crisis, polarised politics and concerns over federal tax incentives, the industry has robustly bounced back, the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) reports.
Not only that, but wind energy is now more affordable than ever as new installations are saving customers money on their electric bills while utilities rush to lock in long-term favourable rates.
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